Heir to the Deity's Throne
by FablehavenFan
Summary: When it comes time for Seth to pay his dues to the Singing Sisters, he gets more than he bargained for when he must venture into the demon homeworld, which is now ruled by a seemingly unstoppable tyrant.
1. Seth's Desire

**A/N: This story is the fifth in the series that I've written, and is a follow-up to _Destiny of the Dark Destroyer_****. Please make sure to read the first four before starting with this one if you already haven't. Hopefully this story gets a better reception than DotDD (Seriously, I got like next to no feedback on that one. It's a 100,000+ word, 34 chapter adventure with a whopping EIGHT reviews! =P) Anyway, I know people are at least reading my stories, so if you've come this far, you're obviously enjoying my work! =D**

**Chapter 1: Seth's Desire**

It was a calm, relaxing day in late March. Spring had officially started in only a few days ago, but the weather throughout New England was proving to be most enjoyable. Within the secluded preserve of Fablehaven, fairies were fluttering around the various ponds and gardens that dotted the landscape. Satyrs were running across the fields, giggling amongst themselves. All of the creatures, be they light or dark. appeared to be at peace, or were at least keeping out of trouble.

Despite the gorgeous weather, on the second floor of the main house, Seth had locked himself up in his bedroom. Under normal circumstances, there would be at least some light seeping through behind his closed curtains. But for now, Seth had used his shadow charmer ability to plunge the room into a complete void of darkness.

Seth didn't care about the world around him. Right now, all he wanted was to be left alone. He knew that in a matter of days, he would have to fulfil a particular obligation. There was seemingly no way out of it. And while Seth was hardy one to run away from his problems, deep down he wanted nothing more than to get as far away from this particular one as he possibly could.

However, such an option was seemingly impossible. It had almost been one full year since Seth paid his first visit to the Singing Sisters. And it was this visit that had built up to all of the tension that Seth was currently experiencing. For when Seth haggled with the Singing Sisters, he agreed to obtain specific knowledge from them in exchange for an undetermined favor in a year's time.

As of now, that year was almost up, and Seth was due to return to the Singing Sisters. If he didn't, the word "deadline" would literally lend itself to Seth's demise. Back when Seth made his bargain with the Singing Sisters, he agreed that he would come back to them within one year's time to accept his favor. Failing to do so, Seth would die due to a pact he was coerced into making as part of the Sisters' deal.

And it was this favor that was stressing Seth out. Seth didn't have the slightest clue as to what it was. There was the possibility that it would be something within the realm of possibility which he could manage. Likewise, there was also the chance that they would ask Seth for a favor that would literally be impossible for him to do. If that was the case, what then? Would Seth have the opportunity to dismiss an impossible favor in exchange for one that was doable?

Whatever the outcome, there was seemingly no way for Seth to just avoid this whole thing. No loopholes that anybody could seemingly think of. He was just going to have to stand up and take his responsibilities like a man.

Seth's solitude came to an abrupt halt when he the sound of someone rapping their knuckles upon wood coming from his door.

"Seth!" came his mother's voice from the other side of the closed door. "Seth, are you in there?"

Breaking away from his concentration, Seth looked over towards the door as the darkness throughout his room began to fade away, slowly revealing the light it had been blocking out. Despite his mother's interruption, it did absolutely nothing to better his mood.

"Mom?" asked Seth. "What is it?"

"Can you come downstairs and help set the table?"

Seth sighed, then rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll be right down."

Still feeling miserable, Seth slipped out of his bed and hesitantly walked over to the door. As he entered the hallway, he could hear the footsteps of his mom walking down the stairs to the first floor. Like the rest of his family, she knew full well of the situation that was going on with Seth. But alas, there wasn't really anything that anybody could do about it.

Seth made his way into the kitchen, where his mother had gotten back to stirring a pot that was heating on the stovetop.

"It's already after five?" asked Seth, as he glanced up at the analogue clock that was hung over the sink. "That's just what I need. Time flowing faster than it needs to."

"Try to be optimistic," said Mrs. Sorenson. "We don't like this situation any better than you do."

"Easy for you to say," said Seth, as he opened up a cupboard and removed a stack of plates. He proceeded to carry the plates into the dining room, setting each one of them down on the table in front of a chair. The stack had not been too heavy to begin with, but got lighter with each plate he placed down.

"Oh wait," said Mrs. Sorenson, sticking her head through the doorway to the kitchen. "Don't set a place for Kendra. She's not eating with us tonight."

"No?" asked Seth, as he placed the second last plate down on the table, leaving just one in his hands. "Why not?"

"She's going on a picnic with Bracken."

"A picnic?" asked Seth, carrying the extra plate back towards the kitchen. "Cool. Why didn't she tell me?"

"Because it's a date. It's just going to be the two of them."

"I see," said Seth, placing the plate back into it's appropriate spot in the kitchen cupboard. Although he normally didn't seem to mind the fact that his sister was dating a unicorn, but lately the whole idea was just making him feel empty inside.

After he finished setting the table, Seth went back up to his bedroom and turned on the television. However, he paid zero attention to whatever was on the screen, and instead gazed up at the ceiling above him for the next three-quarters of an hour, until he was called down to dinner.

As the rest of the family came in to be seated, Seth sat down in his usual spot at one corner of the table. The seat to his left was empty, as it was normally where Kendra sat.

"I have an announcement," said Warren, holding up his hands with a grin on his face.

"What's that?" asked Dale, transferring some spring mix salad from the bowl to his plate.

Warren looked across the table at the empty seat between Seth and Mrs. Sorenson. "I kinda wish Kendra was here to hear this, since she can relate. But I can't wait. I am officially fairystruck!"

The news had startled nearly everybody at the table, including Seth.

"You're kidding," said Grandma, her jaw dropped.

"'Fraid not. See, yesterday I was walking towards the house and saw some fairies floating around like usual. Then it hit me. I didn't remember drinking any milk that morning! Of course, I didn't want to jump the gun, as there was the off chance that I did drink milk and simply forgot. So today, I purposely avoided drinking milk, and I can still see the magical creatures."

"But how'd this happen?" asked Seth.

"It must've been all those kisses I gave to my husband," replied Clover. Sitting next to Warren, she turned towards him and gave him a kiss on the lips.

"How long do you think you've been fairystruck?" asked Grandpa.

"I have no idea," replied Warren. "I've been drinking milk pretty well every day. Could've been last week, or the day we got married."

Seth thought back to Warren and Clover's wedding day. It took place on New Year's Day, just as Warren had requested. The ceremony had taken place in the garden at Fablehaven. It may have been the middle of winter, but it was still sunny on that first day of January.

The ceremony had been performed by none other than the Fairy Queen herself. Dale and Bright were the best man and bride of honor respectively. Seth had the role of ring bearer, while Kendra got to be the flower girl.

Because the Fairy Queen was not a legal authority in the human world, the marriage would never considered legal according to the State of Connecticut. But Warren and Clover didn't care. As long as they took the words of the Fairy Queen seriously, they confessed that they would always be married in their hearts.

Now, almost three months later, the two of them were still happily married. Although Clover confessed that she didn't care if whether Warren was a fairy or not, in the end, Warren still wound up having some semblance of fairy qualities within him. It may not have carried the perks of being fairykind like Kendra possessed, but it was indeed something.

If anything, the news did little to cheer Seth up. Sure, he was grateful for Warren's new revelation. But it did absolutely nothing to better his situation. Ever since Warren got married, it seemed like he was spending more and more time with Clover. It wasn't as though Warren had abandoned the Sorensons or anything, but with no new adventures for them to go on, there just wasn't too much for him to get involved with.

"Warren, you're coming with me when I go visit the Singing Sisters, right?" asked Seth.

Warren nodded, "Course I am. You think just because I got married that I need to settle down?"

"Not a bad suggestion," said Clover, giving Warren a sneer.

"You knew what you were getting into," said Warren, turning to face his wife.

Clover smirked. "Once an adventurer, always an adventurer."

"Warren, how do you propose we go about dealing with the Singing Sisters?" asked Seth.

"Seth, don't tell me you haven't made any preparations for those three," said Warren.

"How am I supposed to _prepare_ for them?" asked Seth. "They could ask for anything."

"Well, sitting around the house all day doing nothing doesn't count as preparing," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"In that case," said Mr. Sorenson, "I think Seth should least be engaged in some sort of activity."

"What kind of activity?" asked Seth. "Can it at least be something fun?"

"Well, baseball season is starting now" said Warren. "What do you say we play a little baseball after dinner? Just the two of us?"

Seth nodded lightly. "Sure. At least it'll be something to do."

Once dinner was finished, Warren and Seth grabbed some baseball gear out of a storage closet, then made their way out through the back door in the kitchen.

Outside, in a clearing not too far from the house, Kendra and Bracken were sitting upon a sprawled-out red and white checkered blanket. Also on the blanket was a picnic basket, water bottles, turkey sandwiches on ciabatta buns, corn-on-the-cob, a bunch of red grapes and two red velvet cupcakes.

"I'm so glad two of us can be together," said Bracken, turning his head to face Kendra. Kendra looked at him. His silvery eyes only seemed to compliment his wide smile.

"For you," said Bracken, reaching down to uproot a dandelion that was growing just beyond the edge of the blanket.

"Oh, thanks," said Kendra nonchalantly.

"I wasn't done with it," said Bracken. He squeezed the dandelion firmly in his wrist, until it suddenly transformed into a bouquet of beautiful flowers. "There, now it's Kendra-worthy."

"Oh, thank you," said Kendra, accepting the bouquet from Bracken. Almost instinctively, she leaned forward and kissed Bracken on the lips.

This hadn't been the first time Kendra and Bracken had kissed. But whenever they did, it truly felt magical. Whenever she kissed anybody else, like her father, it felt no different than kissing the back of her hand. But with Bracken, the two of them could feel magical energy surging through their lips.

"Hey, guys," said Seth, prompting Kendra and Bracken to turn their heads. Standing only twenty feet away were Seth, Warren and Hugo, who was carrying the duo's baseball gear. Kendra felt embarrased.

"Sorry, we didn't know where you two were having this picnic," said Warren. "We'll find another spot."

"Nonsense," said Bracken. "As long as it's okay with you, Kendra."

"Well, as long as they keep to themselves and don't come too close."

"Understood," said Warren, pointing further down the clearing. "There's plenty of room and we don't need a ton of space. We're just pitching and batting, not playing a nine-man game."

Seth, Warren and Hugo moved a fair distance away from Kendra and Bracken, although they were not quite out of sight. In fact, Kendra and Bracken would be able to watch from where they were sitting.

Warren grasped the bat and stepped up to bat first, with Hugo standing behind him as the catcher. Seth stood before Warren. He wound up a pitch and threw it towards Warren, who made contact with his bat. The ball went flying into the air and landed behind several layers of trees.

"Pretty sweet," said Seth, as Hugo, who was already familiar with his duty, ran off after the ball. He returned with the ball a minute later.

"You bat now," said Warren, as he handed the bat to Seth and switched positions. Seth threw his mitt down on the ground, as Warren slipped his on.

Seth gripped the bat between his hands, then turned to face. He waited anxiously until Warren wound up the ball and tossed it towards Seth. Seth swung the bat, attempting to smack the ball, but missed.

"Try again," said Warren, as Hugo tossed the ball over towards him. This time, Warren slowly held his arm back, then thrust it forward, releasing the ball towards Seth. Again, Seth swung at the ball, but failed to make contact with it.

"Not quite," noted Warren, holding out his mitt to receive the ball from Hugo.

"This is a lot easier when I play with my dad," muttered Seth. "Why do you have to be left-handed?"

"Because lefties are awesome," said Warren with a grin. He proceeded to toss the ball up into the air with his left hand, then as it came down, caught it in the mitt on his right hand.

"_Awesome_?" asked Seth doubtfully. "You and _what_ army?" Seth knew full well that Warren was the only left-handed member within his family at Fablehaven.

"I don't _need_ an army. If any of us needs support, it's you. You're the one who needs to be in tip-top shape when he goes to see the Singing Sisters. Just keep trying, you'll get the hang of it."

It took a few more throws, but eventually, Seth was starting to manage hitting most of Warren's throws. They then switched positions again. Seth lobbed a ball towards Warren, who smacked it significantly further than Seth had managed to do with any of his hits.

"It's not fair," muttered Seth, as Hugo ran off in the direction that Warren's hit had sent the ball. "You can hit the ball way further than I could ever hope to."

"Seth, you're only fourteen," said Warren. "When I was your age, I could never hit the ball as far as I can now. And if I wanted a chance to compete in the major league, I'd probably have to hit the ball even high and further than I already can."

"Look, I don't have the time it takes to grow up and get stronger. I need to be prepared for the Singing Sisters. "

"Well, you're just going to have to do your best," said Warren.

"But my best might not be good enough. Man, I wish I never had to visit those stupid sisters in the first place."

Hugo walked up to where Seth was standing and presented him with the retrieved baseball. "Here you go, Seth."

"Forget it," said Seth. "I don't feel like playing right now."

"Don't quit now, Seth," said Warren worriedly. "I'm sorry I brought up... you-know-who."

"Look, I'm sure that whatever bizarre favor the Sisters ask for, it won't involve me playing baseball against a team of river trolls."

"But we've only been playing for ten minutes!"

"Thanks," but no thanks said Seth. He began walking in the direction of the house, as Warren and Hugo followed close behind.

"Why Seth so upset?" asked Hugo.

"He's just under a lot of stress," said Warren.

They soon passed by the spot where Kendra and Bracken were currently in the middle of savouring their turkey sandwiches.

"That was quick," said Bracken with a grin, as he swallowed a piece of his sandwich.

Kendra could see that Seth did not appear to be in good spirits, as he continued on past the spot where she and Bracken were picnicking. However, Warren and Hugo opted to stop at the picnic.

"What's wrong with Seth?" asked Kendra.

"He's really uptight about this whole ordeal with the Singing Sisters," noted Warren. "Not that I can blame him. I'm worried for Seth, and I'm not even the one who's life is at risk.

"We all feel for Seth," said Bracken. "But really, there's nothing that any of us can do to ensure that his trip to the Singing Sisters goes smoothly."

"We can help him, can't we?" asked Kendra. "I mean, whatever it is that the Singing Sisters ask of him, why should they care, so long as they get their desired outcome in the end?"

"We've got no way of knowing if the Singing Sisters will impose any restrictions upon Seth when they make their request," replied Warren. "They may forbid assistance for all we know."

"Poor guy," said Kendra, as she was caught off guard by thunder rumbling in the sky above them.

"Whoa," said Bracken, staring upwards. "Look at the sky!"

Kendra gazed up and saw that grey clouds had gathered in the sky over Fablehaven. "It seemed sunny only minutes ago!"

"Sorry about the picnic, Kendra," said Bracken, as he proceeded to toss the rest of the food back into the picnic basket. "But we'd better get out of here before it rains."

"Hugo hate rain," said the golem. "Makes me grimy."

Once Kendra and Bracken had gotten off the blanket, Hugo bent down and picked it up off the grass. Following Kendra, Bracken and Warren, Hugo proceeded to fold the blanket up as the group followed Seth back towards the house.


	2. Fablehaven's Most Wanted

**Chapter 2: Fablehaven's Most Wanted**

After heading inside, Seth immediately retreated to his bedroom. He went back to laying down on his bed, unable to think about what the Singing Sisters would make him go through. Seth was unable to sleep well. Instead, he found himself tossing and turning all night. Every so often, he would open his eyes to take a glance at his digital alarm clock. It kept displaying later and later times whenever he saw it. After what felt like forever, Seth finally fell asleep.

Waking up the following morning, Seth felt exceptionally groggy. He didn't have the slightest clue as to whenever it was that he finally fell asleep, nor did he have any recollection as to what he may have dreamt about. Seth looked out the window at the surrounding property and saw that it had apparently rained all night, as the terrain appeared to be damp. Fortunately, the rain itself had stopped.

After freshening up in the bathroom, Seth changed into some fresh clothes and made his way downstairs to the dining room, where the rest of his family was in the midst of eating a breakfast consisting of fruit and cereal.

"Feeling better, Seth?" asked Kendra, as Seth sat down in his seat, which was the one next to hers.

"Not really," muttered Seth, as he reached for a box of Count Chocula, which had intentionally been placed in front of him. He then proceeded to open the seal and poured some of the chocolatey cereal into his bowl. "How come you guys are letting me eat sugary cereal all of a sudden?"

"We just want you to be happy," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"As a matter of fact, Seth," said Grandpa, "we were talking it over, and we've agreed to let you do whatever you want today."

"Really?" asked Seth, as he poured some milk into his cereal, watching as it slowly changed from white to brown.

"Whadda ya say?" asked Mr. Sorenson.

"I'm sorry if you weren't in the mood for baseball yesterday," said Warren. "I should've asked you."

"Okay!" snapped Seth, holding up his arms. "I'm not a baby! It's not my birthday! You don't have to spoil me."

"Seth, if we're unable to help you," said Grandma, "the least you can let us do is allow you to be happy."

"You want me to be happy?" asked Seth. "Just leave me alone."

Seth reached for his spoon and began to shovel cereal from the bowl into his mouth. Despite the sweetness, the taste meant very little to him.

"Don't you want to do anything?" asked Clover.

"I just want to stay in my room today and play some video games. Is that so much to ask?"

"Come on," said Kendra. "You play video games practically every day."

"Yeah, you should get out there and experience real life a bit more," said Grandma.

"You know what's great about video games?" asked Seth. "They're not real! If I die in one of those games, nothing bad happens to me. In real life... I die!"

Seth then backed out of his chair and stood up. "I'm sorry, but I just want to be left alone."

"Why?" asked Warren. "You've beaten that _Biowarriors Extreme_ game like ten times."

"Can't you at least do something else?" asked Kendra.

"Fine," replied Seth. "I'll play some Mario."

"Can I be Luigi?" asked Warren.

After breakfast, Kendra headed outside. Although it was still damp out, fairies were still floating about the garden. Clover soon joined her.

"Where's Warren?" asked Kendra.

"He's spending some time with Seth. I really don't see the appeal of those video games they're so obsessed with."

"Honestly. We offer to let Seth do whatever he wants to do today, and he just wants to stay cooped up in his room."

A moment later, a reindeer walked into the garden, pulling a wagon that Dale was riding atop of. The reindeer stopped in front of Kendra and proceeded to lick her hands.

"Cut it out," laughed Kendra. "I know you're excited to see me and all..."

"Come on, Dancer," said Dale, prompting the reindeer to refrain from licking Kendra.

"How do you tell them all apart?" asked Kendra. "They've been with us for almost three months, but I've never learned."

"Just intuition, I guess,"

"These reindeer are very gentle and obedient," said Clover, rubbing her hand upon Dancer's forehead.

"They love it here," said Dale, as several small fairies flew up to Dancer and sat down on the branches of the reindeer's antlers. And they're always more than willing to pitch in with my chores. And ever since he's become more sentient, Hugo's considered them to be a great help, too. But, right now, I've gotta go feed the fog giants."

"Hopefully not Dancer," said Clover, whispering to Kendra as the wagon pulled off away from the garden.

More fairies flew up towards Kendra, some of whom opted to land on her head and shoulders. Many of them appeared to be either hugging or even kissing her. Others started to sing in a harmony of what sounded like bells and chimes.

"The fairies sure are happy to see you," said Clover. "You keep this up and I'll be out of a job."

"But I haven't done anything special lately."

"You there," said Clover, pointing at a fairy with lavender hair, "not that I'm complaining, but why are you fairies praising Kendra so much today?"

"I'm not entirely sure," replied the fairy. "Sometimes, we just feel... empty when she's not around."

Kendra sat around on a lawn chair, as fairies continued to flutter around in her vicinity. Several other reindeer wandered into the garden, and although they attracted the attention of several fairies, the majority of them opted to just stay near Kendra instead.

Over the next little while, Kendra and Clover were joined by Raxtus, Geminus and Vanessa. Together, they discussed the situation regarding Seth, but alas,were unable to come up with any ideal solutions for Seth's dilemma. One suggestion that got thrown around was to simply use the Omega Star to wish for whatever it might be that the Sisters asked for. However, Kendra got that sinking feeling that it might not be so easy.

Later in the morning, the group had caught sight of Bright, who was flying over towards the garden, coming from the direction of the naiads' pond. Trailing directly behind her was her sister Brook.

"Hey, Bright!" said Clover, as the two fairy princesses descended down towards the group.

"Brook!" said Kendra, who was somewhat surprised to see the visiting fairy angel. "How are you?"

"You're probably all wondering why I'm here," said Brook, as she stroked her glistening, crystalline hair,

"Does it have something to do with those three?" asked Raxtus, pointing to three smaller fairies who were hovering around Brook's head.

"Yeah, who are they?" asked Geminus. "I've never noticed fairies like them around Fablehaven."

"Where are our manners?" said Brook. "Girls, land before me."

Brook pointed down towards a small table next to where some lawn chairs had been set up. The fairies followed Brook's cue and landed down atop of it. Now that they had come to a full stop, everyone could see the three fairies for whom they really were.

"Everyone," said Brook, "I'd like you to meet Passion..."

Brook pointed to a fairy with crimson red hair and pink wings, each one in the shape of half a heart.

"Larissa..."

She then pointed at the cyan-haired fairy with blue, moon-shaped wings.

"And Goldenrod."

Lastly, Brook pointed to the fairy with canary yellow hair and wings that resembled flower petals.

"Girls," said Bright, "I know you're familiar with Clover," pointing to the green fairy angel. "And you know about Raxtus and Geminus, and their daughter, Vanessa. And last, but certainly not least... Kendra Sorenson."

"It's a honor to meet you," said Larissa, as the blue fairy fluttered around Kendra, followed by her two comrades.

"Not that I have any problem with this," said Geminus, "but- why are you being all formal with these new arrivals?"

"Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod have shown an interest in co-existing among humans," said Brook. "Although they're young, they'd like to become fairy angels themselves some day. I've been spending some time tutoring them back in the Fairy Kingdom. And since they've become acquainted with English, I think they're ready for some first hand experience in the human world by staying at Fablehaven."

"They seem really friendly," said Kendra, as the three new fairies each kissed Kendra on her cheeks and forehead.

"A fairy's gotta be open-minded if she ever wants to become a fairy angel," said Clover. "That's what Tiara, Opal, Geminus and myself all aimed for."

"I kinda got sidetracked along the way," said Geminus, placing her claw upon Raxtus' shoulder.

"You can't just toss around feminine pronouns in regards to fairies all the time," said Brook. "Ever since Apollo was born, male fairy babies have been popping up just as frequently as females."

"Let's not get carried away on technicalities, sis," said Bright. "Anyway, these girls are here so that they can live close to humans for a while. Kendra, you in particular would make a good ambassador that the fairies can associate yourself with. As long as you can check in on them every so often and see to it that they're content, everything should be fine. If you have any concerns, just let me know."

"Seems simple enough," said Kendra.

"I figured that would go over well," said Brook. "But, I'll be returning to the Fairy Kingdom for now. Goodbye, everybody."

The group all watched as Brook flew off, heading back towards the naiad's pond.

"Wow," said Goldenrod, as she flew circles around Kendra. "The rumors are true. She really does emit light energy!"

"Who said they were rumors?" asked Clover.

"Uh, take it easy," said Kendra, as the smaller fairies continued to buzz around her body. The feeling reminded her of anytime in the past when she had been swarmed by mosquitoes

"Fair enough," said Passion. "But, you're just so... _energetic_! It's amazing that you're fairykind!"

"Can you go fairyprime for us?" asked Goldenrod. "Please?"

"Yeah!" said Passion in agreement.

"Take it easy, girls," said Bright. "You should at least meet the rest of the household."

"I'll go get them," said Clover as she scurried over towards the house and entered through the door.

Up in Seth's bedroom, Seth was laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Warren was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a video game controller in his hand and staring at the TV. Clover then entered through the door.

"Guys, there's some new arrivals outside whom I'd like you to meet."

"Really?" asked Warren, as he proceeded to shut off the system and TV. "Seth lost interest a while ago, but I hung in there."

Warren then walked over to the side of Seth's bed and proceeded to gently shake Seth's arm. "Come on, at least be considerate."

"I heard what Clover said," muttered Seth. He then slunk out of bed and followed Warren and Clover downstairs. They then ventured outside, where everybody had now gathered in the garden where the other fairies were waiting.

"Here they are," said Bright. "First is Warren Burgess. But I think he needs no introduction."

"We know him!" laughed Larissa, as she floated up towards Warren. "He used to be a fairy. But he still feels... cozy."

"I'm fairystruck," said Warren with a smile, as he held out his hand for Goldenrod to land upon.

"He's so... him!" said Passion, flapping her wings vividly. "He's attractive. I mean... real attractive. He's..."

"Married," added Clover, gesturing towards the ring on Warren's hand which the fairies had perched themselves upon.

"What am I, chopped liver?" asked Seth.

At that exact moment, the crack of thunder came booming from the sky above. Kendra and Seth looked up and saw that the sky had somehow gotten cloudy again.

"Terribly sorry," said Bright. "This here is Seth Sorenson, Kendra's brother."

"He must be really popular with the fairies too," said Goldenrod. "Here comes a whole court of them!"

Everyone looked over to where Goldenrod had been pointing, and saw a large swarm of at least one hundred fairies flying towards them. It was impossible for anyone to hear what they were saying, but they all sounded rather agitated.

"What's going on?" asked Passion, as the fairies flew up towards Seth.

"Oh no!" cried Seth, as he proceeded to dart away from the group. The court of small fairies flew after Seth, assaulting him with an assortment of beams and sparkles of magical energy.

"No!" cried Clover, as the group chased after Seth and the pursuing fairies.

"Leave Seth alone!" exclaimed Grandpa.

"They're not listening!" cried Grandma.

"Bright, Clover, do something!" squealed Mrs. Sorenson.

"I command you all to stop!" blared Clover.

Soon Seth and the swarm stopped moving away and remained in one spot on the grass near the edge of the yard.

"What are they doing to my son?" blurted Mr. Sorenson.

"I can't separate the fairies from Seth with my powers," said Bright. "There's too many of them!"

"Fairies!" shouted Kendra, once she and the others had caught up with them. "In the name of the Fairy Queen, I order all of you to leave my brother alone!"

As if on command, the fairies all dissipated from around where Seth was. Where Seth had been laid a rather incredible sight. In his place appeared to be a bizarre creature, roughly seven feet long. He sported pink rabbit ears, moose antlers, purple and black tiger fur, whiskers, eight limbs, each with a green goose's foot at the end, and the tails of a rat, pig, raccoon and monkey on his rear. Protruding from Seth's mouth were elongated, uneven teeth and three long, blue tongues that were sprawled out over the grass.

"Oh my goodness!" moaned Mrs. Sorenson.

"Looks like we came at a good time," said Larissa. "This looks like fun game!"

"This is _not_ a game," said Kendra sternly, as rain started to fall from the sky. "You there," said Kendra, pointing to the nearest stray fairy. "Why have you attacked my brother?"

"Your brother has been radiating an excessive amount of dark energy," replied the green-skinned fairy, who sported brown hair and wings.

"What are you talking about?" asked Kendra.

"It's not enough to irritate a stronger being like you. But for the past week, my kin and I have begun to feel weak any time Seth approaches us."

"Why did you not tell anyone?" asked Grandpa.

"We did! We spoke to Bright and Clover about the matter, but she was unable to vouch for us."

"They're right," said Clover. "We tried to sense what the fairies were talking about. But whenever we detected Seth, I couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary. I didn't know what the problem was."

"And we didn't want to tell anyone because..." began Bright, "we were worried that this would just lead to Seth getting into even more trouble."

"He's already in plenty of trouble," noted Warren, pointed down to the deformity that sat before everyone. Seth then let out a deep moan. "Just help him already."

"Right," said Clover, as she and Bright nodded. They then conjured up a cluster of rainbow and green sparkles in their hands and directed them down at Seth. Everyone watched as the nonsensical creature on the ground quickly morphed back into a teenaged human boy.

"What happened?" gasped Seth, wiping off the raindrops that were dripping down his face. He was experiencing a feeling of wooziness.

"The fairies rebelled against you," said Dale, helping Seth to his feet. "They turned you into a bizarre hodgepodge of different animals."

"But why? I've been good to the fairies. Maybe not a saint or anything. But I definitely haven't done anything to them that could be considered _bad_."

The group proceeded to walk back towards the house.

"Seth, this is a lot like that time you became a mutated walrus," said Grandpa.

"I've been trying to erase the experience from my memory," said Seth. " But at least then, I actually _did_ something wrong, even if I was unaware of it at first.

"What's this about a walrus?" asked Goldenrod.

"You don't want to know," said Dale, as the group all entered the house.

"Seth, you're sopping wet," said Grandma, indicating the dampened, grass-stained clothes that Seth was wearing.

"Dry off," said Bright, conjuring up a towel in her hands, which she presented to Seth. Seth then proceeded wipe himself down.

"Seth you'll need to change your clothes," said Mrs. Sorenson. "I'm doing my laundry this afternoon. You can throw your clothes in with mine."

"Can't Bright or Clover at least clean them with their powers?" asked Seth.

"Healing you took a lot out of us," said Clover. "We need to conserve our magic right now."

"Yeah, in case the other fairies lash out at you again," stated Bright.

"Speaking of which," said Grandpa, "I think that as the fairy angels of this preserve, you ought to reprimand the fairies for what they did to Seth."

"We can't," said Bright. "They would never retaliate against someone unless they had been provoked first. Nor would they blatantly speak any lies."

"Well, whatever it is," said Warren, "there's something odd going on with Seth."

"Well, excuse me!" blurted Seth. "I'm already got enough on my plate with the stupid Singing Sisters! And now I've got to deal with a bunch of fairies who went after me for no reason!"

"There was a reason," said Clover.

"Suuure," said Seth, as he huffed out of the living room and went up to his room. He quickly pulled off his damp clothes and tossed them to one side, then proceeded to put on a fresh change. Seth then fell back onto his bed and began to sulk.

"Stupid fairies. I wish they'd just leave me alone! I'd happily let the Singing Sisters off every last one them instead of me."

Back downstairs, nobody else had said anything since Seth's departure.

"We can't go on like this," said Grandpa. "If there really is something going on with Seth, we'd better approach the situation with caution. In the meantime, I'm relegating all of the fairies in the garden to the naiad's pond."

"But that's not fair," said Clover.

"I'm sorry. But Seth is under enough pressure as it is. Once this whole thing gets resolved, the fairies may return."


	3. Casting a Shadow

**Chapter 3: Casting a Shadow**

For the next several hours, Seth remained in his room, feeling miserable. He didn't make any attempt to go to sleep, for he was not the least bit tired. However, Seth did nothing to keep himself occupied or to pass the time. Instead, passed the time by either sitting on his bed, mulling over his current situation, or pacing back and forth across his room.

Every time Seth looked out the window, he could see that it was raining heavily outside. Seth couldn't put his finger on why, but he got the impression that somehow the darkness within him that the fairies were rioting about was what had been triggering the recent storms.

Not only that, but Seth was feeling ashamed of himself. Three new fairies had been introduced to him, and right off the bat, he had to get embarrassed not only in front of them, but his entire immediate family.

The mutant walrus incident was one thing. He had captured a fairy and held her captive inside overnight. Even though Seth didn't know the consequence of keeping a fairy indoors all night, at least the fairies had a reason to be targeted. But this time, Seth had done absolutely nothing to upset them.

Normally, Seth would just leave the fairies to their own devices, while they mostly just chose to stay out of his way. Fair enough, he _is _a shadow charmer. Why would the ever fairies flock to someone like him, when they had their special handmaiden Kendra?

For that matter, even a normal human like his parents or grandparents got more appreciation than him. Warren had been close to the fairies even before he had been altered by their magic. And Dale had been giving them magical milk for years, no surprise they admired him, too. But for Seth, sometimes it felt like he and the fairies had been mortal enemies since the day he and Kendra came to Fablehaven for the very first time.

Eventually, Seth's solitude of silence was broken when he heard a knock coming from the other side of his door. "Seth," came Grandma's voice. "May I come in?"

Seth sighed. "I guess."

Grandma opened the door and entered Seth's bedroom. "We feel very bad over what happened earlier. As a result, we've decided to ban the fairies from the yard."

"What?" asked Seth, who had suddenly been struck with a feeling of guilt. "Look... I know I'm not exactly numero uno with the fairies, but I've got no personal vendetta against them."

"We did this for your own security," said Grandma. "If you and the fairies are unable to live together in harmony, it might be better if you don't live together at all."

"That's... not fair! I didn't do this on purpose!"

"Until we can get this whole situation figured out, it seems like the most viable option. If the fairies are unable to enter the yard, they won't be able to mess with you."

"But..." said Seth, "can't we just look into whatever's causing all of this to happen, and stop it at the source?"

"We'd like to," said Grandma, as she walked back through the door. "But we're not sure how safe it is. If the darkness within you is in fact increasing, it may pose a risk to anyone who looks into it."

"Wait," said Seth, as he followed his grandmother out of his bedroom and down the stairs into the entry hall.

Grandma then opened up the front door and went out onto the porch, where everyone else was standing. As it was still raining outside, the roof of the porch was shielding everybody on the porch from getting soaked. Seth stepped out onto the porch, following his grandmother.

Standing before everyone in front of the steps were Bright and Clover, both of whom looked saddened. Behind them, a large court of fairies were buzzing about in the rain. As Seth and Kendra both knew, rain didn't bother fairies very much like as it does with humans.

"Are you sure that the fairies need to relocate?" asked Bright, speaking in a sympathetic tone of voice.

"For the time being, yes," replied Grandpa. "It's not safe for Seth if's he a hazard to them, even if it's unintentional."

"But the fairies love the garden," said Clover. "They prefer it to the shrine, which it's in the naiad's territory."

"I don't want to get rid of the fairies. Not in the least. But I can't allow them to fly around and put Seth at risk like they just did."

"Look, I like you fairies!" said Seth. "At least when you're not attacking me. I don't think it's right that you're being asked to move."

"This is for your own good, Seth," said Grandma. "And the fairies'."

"Well, come on," said Bright to all of the small fairies. "The pond is a nice place. And the naiads won't bother you... As long as you don't fly too close to the water."

Bright proceeded to fly off in the direction of the pond, prompting all of the smaller fairies to follow her lead.

"Goodbye, fairies!" said Kendra, waving her arms in the air. "I'll be sure to visit you every day!"

"I'll go with them for now," said Clover, as she proceeded to fly off. "The fairies of this preserve are my responsibility as well, wherever they are. Warren, I'll be back later."

"As for you, Seth," said Grandpa, "I think that we need to discuss the matter the matter of... well... _you_."

The group then headed back inside, where Grandpa gestured for Seth to come with him. Hoping that he hadn't gotten himself into even more trouble, Seth followed Grandpa through the first floor of the house and into his study.

"Take a seat," said Grandpa, sitting down at the seat behind his desk. Seth nodded, then sat down in one of the chairs across from his grandfather.

"Look," said Seth, "Diverting the fairies from the garden to the pond was _not_ my idea! In fact, none of this is _my_ doing! But I'm the one at fault."

"I don't like this any better than you do," said Grandpa. "While you were up in your room, I suggested using the Omega Star to restore you to normal. But Bright reminded me, as you may remember, that the Omega Star is incapable of eliminating evil."

"Right. It's why it could only banish demons like Navarog and Tritanoss, not destroy them."

"This may take more looking into, however. One suggestion Bright made was to give you an examination, and if necessary, an exorcism, similar to what went on with David and Zavarok."

"Yeah, but at least we were aware of Zavarok's presence. I can't feel as though I'm sharing my body with another soul, or that I've been possessed, like when I had been by Navarog."

"Yes," said Grandpa. "When you _were_ possessed by Navarog, until we learned of the truth, your behavior had been fairy crude. Lately, you've been behaving rather normally. Except for fretting over having to visit the Singing Sisters. Which brings me to my next concern; your return visit to them."

"Great..." said Seth unpleasantly.

"Everything that's been going on seems to have reached a head lately. Not only is your darkness increasing, but your time to visit the Singing Sisters again is drawing nearer. On top of that, we don't have an immediate solution to your situation."

"What are you getting at? Can't the fairies just counter the excessive darkness in me that they're complaining about?"

"The problem is that we don't know what's the matter with you, nor do the fairies have an appropriate solution for helping you. Rather than wait around, I thought it might be best if you simply stopped procrastinating."

"Procrastinating?" asked Seth.

"I think you might just want to nip this whole thing in the bud. Instead of waiting any longer, just go out and pay your dues to the Singing Sisters right away."

"What?"

"I've discussed this matter with your grandmother and your parents. We all think it would be best for you. Rather than lying around the house for another week acting all melancholy."

Seth stopped to think about what was being asked of him. If he were to go visit the Singing Sisters, and they asked of him to fulfil an impossible task, he'd be well out of luck. Up the creek without a paddle. And by going a bit earlier, it would accomplish nothing. Except perhaps by cutting his life even shorter than it was already destined to be. Of course, there was always the chance that the Singing Sisters would instead ask of him for a manageable favor that he could handle. But still, Grandpa's suggestion did not come off as seeming all that undesirable. At this point, Seth didn't feel as though he had a lot to lose. Besides, if the adults had all agreed on something, Seth knew that the chances were good they were probably right.

However, even if the favor could be completed, he'd still have the pressing matter of the fairies to contend with. Coupled with his obligation to the Singing Sisters, the ordeal going on between him and the fairies needed to be settled as well. What if, for some reason, the commotion he had inadvertently been causing for the fairies would hamper his ability to complete his task for the Singing Sisters?

Seth took a deep breath. "Okay. I'll do it. I'll visit the Singing Sisters before my time expires. On one condition?"

Grandpa nodded. "What's that?"

"I want the fairies to look into my situation further. Before I do anything regarding the Singing Sisters. If I'm going to get sent on another mission, I want to make sure that I'm in peak condition."

"I understand," said Grandpa. "I'll see what we can do about that. But bear in mind that I can't promise that they'll be able to help you."

* * *

Roughly half an hour had passed since Seth had spoken to Grandpa. He had since announced the situation to everybody in the house, and that word had been sent to the Fairy Kingdom of Seth's request via Bright.

Since then the rain had lightened up, but it was still fairy damp and muddy outside the house, so the family had chosen to remain indoors. Seth was sitting around in an armchair, arms crossed, keeping to himself. Kendra and Warren were sitting across from each other at a small table in the corner, currently engaged in a game of gin rummy.

The doorbell rang, drawing the attention of everybody in the house. Seth had been feeling a bit better over the extenuating circumstances, but was still feeling wary. A moment later, Grandpa had entered the parlor, bringing with him Bracken, Bright, Clover and all five keepers of the instruments of eternal power.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Seth, holding out his palms. "What is going on here?"

"We've got some of the Fairy Kingdom's finest women here to help you," said Bracken. "You should be thankful."

"We're only trying to help you," said Bright.

"Sorry, but the last time I got confronted by fairies... I was like some messed-up Dr. Moreau experiment."

"We're unfamiliar with this _Dr. Moreau_," said Brillia, "But Seth, the reason we're all here, is so that we can try to get a feel on your situation."

"What does Seth have to do?" asked Kendra,

"Absolutely nothing," said Opal, as she and the other fairies all gathered around the seat that Seth was on.

"This better not be some stupid trick," said Seth.

"Would you relax?" asked Bracken, as he and all the fairies, who had now gathered around Seth in a circle proceeded to hold hands. "We promise no transmogrification."

"Okay," said Brillia. "We're going to channel our energy between us. It will be invisible, so while nobody will be able to see anything, Seth may experience something a tingling feeling of some sort."

"Are you sure?" asked Seth.

"Don't ask us," said Tiara. "Without shadow powers, none of us have been able to experience this sort of thing first hand."

"Ready?" asked Bright.

"Well, uh..." said Seth, as the fairies all closed their eyes.

For the first moment, Seth felt absolutely nothing. Suddenly, he felt completely mesmerized. He appeared to be floating in a strange dark void. Unable to control himself or react to the situation in any way, his body began to feel all numb. Flashes of light appeared momentarily, only to vanish instantly.

What was going on with Seth? He felt like he was being attacked, only there was not a thing that he could do about it. Every time a light flashed, Seth could feel as though different sections of his body were being prodded. He wanted to cry for help, but he couldn't so much as produce a single squeak from his mouth.

What were the fairies doing to him? They had claimed they were going to help! But now it seemed as though they were trying to eradicate him by overwhelming his body with light energy! But why? This wasn't fair!

The pain only grew more and more intense with each flash of light, while his body kept taking more and more pressure. He wanted to yell "stop", but he couldn't!

"Stop!" blurted Seth, finally able to somehow muster up the energy to speak.

Seth opened his eyes. He was sweating heavily, his heart was beating heavily, and he was taking deep, long breaths.

"Seth!" cried Kendra, holding one of his wrists in his hands.

Having regained full consciousness, Seth could see that everybody in the room was hovering over him.

"That was weird," said Seth. "What were you doing to me all this time?"

"We only used our power for like ten seconds!" exclaimed Clover.

"Ten seconds? That felt like it kept going on and on!

"You must've really been out of it," said Warren. "You seemed perfectly mellow until the fairies stopped, at which point you came to your flipped out and started sweating."

"You need to tell us," said Bravia, "what was it like on your end?"

Seth recapped his experience to the others, only to receive looks of discern from the fairies.

"So, what does all of this mean?" asked Kendra, once Seth had finished speaking.

"Well," said Brook, "we've got good news and bad news."

"Good news first, please," said Seth. "I could really use some right about now."

"Well," said Brook, "the good news is that you are not being possessed or under any sort of of external control. You are the one and only Seth Sorenson."

"Oh _great_," said Seth. "I did _not_ need a team of fairy experts to do all they did just to tell me that."

"Well, as long as the fairies are aware of this, they might able to use this knowledge to help you."

"And... that's where the bad news comes into play," said Tiara. "The problem is that the darkness within you has been increasing, seemingly all on its own. It's greater than it ever has been before."

"And by increasing," said Opal, "it's been irritating the environment around you. Namely the minor fairies living at Fablehaven. Bright and Clover haven't noticed it, because fairy angels such as us are much more resilient."

"That's why the fairies attacked you, Seth," said Bright. "Your darkness was getting stronger and stronger, to the point where they could no longer tolerate it."

"But I wear a bracelet from the Fairy Queen which restrains my power," said Seth, indicating the silver bracelet that he always wore on his right wrist.

"Please let me see that," said Brillia, extending her hand down before Seth. Seth nodded, then removed the special bracelet.

Brillia clenched the bracelet in her hands and gave it a stern look. "There appears to be a magical fracture in the bracelet's energy field. "'ll fix it,"

Brillia closed her eyes and the bracelet briefly emitted a flash of white light. She then handed it back to Seth, who slipped it back on his arm.

"Am I better now?" asked Seth.

The fairies all shook their heads. "The bracelet may have been fixed," said Opal, "but the damage is already done."

"What do you mean?"

"Something must've happened to your bracelet," said Bravia. I know that our mother created the bracelet with you in mind, but it almost seems like it was used to suppress a force of darkness far greater than your own."

"Oblivion," said Seth. "Back when we defeated her as a dragon several months ago. Kendra placed my bracelet on the tip of one of Oblivion's horns in order to weaken her power."

"That's right," said Warren. "Even though it worked, we never though of the consequences it would've had on Seth's bracelet.

"Well, since Brillia fixed the bracelet, problem solved, right?" asked Seth.

"Wrong," said Tiara. "Since you're in the midst of growing up, the darkness within you has been increasing gradually. But, because you've normally worn your bracelet since you first got it, it's kept your darkness in line. But, ever since the ordeal with Oblivion broke it, it's failed to do it's job, allowing all the pent up darkness within you to continuously get stronger."

"So, am I going to get better, now that the bracelet is working again?"

"If by better you mean_ less dark_, then no." replied Bravia.

"Can't you fix him?" asked Kendra.

"Our magic would only harm him," replied Opal. "Seth and his darkness are one in the same. It's the same reason why the Omega Star is unable to make a dark creature turn good. Its darkness is part of its soul, and the change would destroy that. Using light magic to restore you could potentially kill you."

"But why?" asked Seth.

"Seth, remember when we went fairyprime with Kendra to fight that volgor?" asked Bracken.

Seth thought back to the incident at Dynabridge, and recalled lending his power to Kendra so that she could defeat the serpentine monster.

"Well, because it was a creature of darkness, Kendra's overwhelmed it, to the point where it had been banished from this world."

"So, if the fairies used their magic on you," said Warren, "that volgor would be you."

"You mean, there's nothing you fairies can do to reduce my darkness?"

"Well, we can always ask our mother for advice," said Brook, "but I don't believe that there's much she could do."

"I hate to say this to you, Seth" said Bright with a saddened frown on her face, "but the darkness within you, from what we understand, won't go away on its own. It's only going to get worse and worse."


	4. Returning a Favor

**Chapter 4: Returning a Favor**

Only a few minutes had passed since the fairies had given Seth their evaluation of him. Unable to come up with a more desirable solution, the visiting fairies all regretted speaking the truth of what they had uncovered, and soon left to return to the Fairy Kingdom.

Grandpa had been thinking about what the fairies had said in regards to Seth. He seemed rather baffled as to how he would handle the situation now at hand, but noted that he would look into an optimal solution that would accommodate everybody.

Meanwhile, Seth had gone upstairs and into the bathroom to freshen up. It was currently mid-afternoon, but that was no reason for him to back out of waiting any longer to pay a visit to the Singing Sisters. And now that he had learned about the darkness within him getting greater, and the fairies being unable to do anything about it, he wanted to visit the Singing Sisters more than ever.

Staring at himself in the mirror, Seth was feeling guilty about continuing to stay at Fablehaven if his increased darkness was aggravating. Getting off the property to visit the Singing Sisters seemed like it would give him at least _some_ time away from home. And if they _did_ send Seth on another mission, it would only give him an excuse to stay away from the fairies for a while longer.

Seth continued to ponder. Perhaps if he _could_ fulfil the Singing Sisters' request of him, he could then possibly ask them to look into a safe solution to his increased darkness. Sure, it would come at the price of having to complete a second favor, and he still had to tackle this first one, but at this point, he was feeling both eager and desperate enough to try anything.

The only hitch in Seth's plan would be that his family would probably respond to him asking the Sisters for their help again with a big "_NO_!". Although Seth wasn't a stranger when it came to breaking rules, there really had been times when breaking the rules really _did_ make things worse.

Once Seth had finished up in the bathroom, he made his way downstairs and into the living room, where the rest of his family was waiting for him.

"Are you ready to go, Seth?" asked Warren, who was sitting on the couch wearing his brown leather jacket. He was holding Vasilis in his hand.

"What if something goes wrong when you're out there?" asked Mrs. Sorenson, as Seth stepped into the room.

"I don't know what exactly to expect out of all this," replied Grandma. "But from what I understand, all that Seth has to do is make a return visit to the Singing Sisters and let them tell him whatever it is that he wants."

"I can't see myself being gone for very long," said Seth. "Both times when I went to see the Singing Sisters, the actual amount of time I spent with them wasn't all that much. A couple of minutes, really."

"You're just going there so that the Sisters can assign you their favor, right?" asked Kendra.

"Let's hope so," said Grandpa. "I just hope this favor isn't something along the lines of Seth being their slave for four-hundred years."

"What if it is?" asked Mr. Sorenson. "We'll never get to see our son again!"

"Can't we just use the Omega Star to give the Sisters whatever it is that they want?" asked Kendra. "I mean, as long as they're satisfied, who care if it wasn't Seth himself who got them what they wanted?"

"Let's just let Seth be on his way already," said Grandpa, as he stood up from his seat and walked up to Seth. "In the event that you are unable to return..."

Grandpa wrapped his arms around Seth, giving him a firm hug. Despite his age, Grandpa had a fairly strong grasp on him.

Seth then received hugs from Grandpa, his parents, Dale, Bright and Clover.

"I hope you'll be okay," said Kendra, as both herself and Seth were engaged in a hug. It wasn't often that the two Sorenson siblings hugged each other, but when they did, they could feel a special bond between themselves.

"Thank you for going along with Seth," said Grandpa, turning to face Warren. "It's not that Seth really needs any help, but I'm glad that you'll be there for moral support."

"No problem, Stan," said Warren, as he pulled the Translocator from out of pouch that he wore around his waist and presented it to Seth. "Well, any time you're ready."

"Okay," said Seth, twisting the Translocator and holding onto the center piece. Warren then placed his hand on one of the sides.

Everyone said their farewells as Seth envisioned his destination. In an instant, Seth found himself being warped through space, as he experienced the Translocator again for the first time in quite a while.

Seth opened his eyes. Still holding onto the Translocator, he and Warren were now standing in the middle of a cavernous alcove On one side there was an overlooking view of the river that lay outside. To their other side was a large door carved out of rock and featured a round, brass handle.

"So, this is the place?" asked Warren, taking a moment to admire their present surroundings.

"Yup," said Seth, gazing upon the door that stood before them.

"I need to hold on to the Translocator while you're in there," said Warren, pulling the artifact out of Seth's grasp. He then handed Vasilis over to Seth.

"I know."

"I _could_ enter as an uninvited visitor, but it's probably better to not do so if I don't have to. I'll wait for you, I promise."

"What if I don't come back?" asked Seth, trying not to imagine what the Singing Sisters might do with him.

Warren winced. "I... I can't answer that. Look, I'll wait here for an hour. If you don't come back, I'll contact the others back home. Kendra can then try to use the Occulus to find you."

"I hope so," said Seth, think of how there had been circumstances in which the Occulus failed to detect its target.

"Good luck, man," said Warren, giving Seth a hug.

Once the two of them released their arms from each other, Seth turned around and walked up to the door. Without a second thought, he then banged on it with his fist.

A moment later, the door swung open. The gatekeeper, who was the river troll Seth had dealt with on his previous visits, was standing on the other side.

"Seth Sorenson," said the river troll, eyeing the shadow charmer. "You've returned. Who is _he_?" The river troll pointed over to where Warren was standing.

"That's my cousin," replied Seth. "But, he doesn't intend to enter. He's just going to wait for me."

"Very well. What brings you here?"

"I'm here to repay my debt to the Singing Sisters."

"Enter," said the troll, leading Seth through the door. Once they passed through, the door slid shut.

"I can't say that I expected you to return early to repay your favor," said the troll, as he led Seth down the gloomy stairwell before them. "But don't think that the Sisters are going to go easy on you just because you're trying to get on their good side."

Once they reached the bottom of the stairwell, Seth and the troll emerged in the cavern of the Singing Sisters. The three siblings were waiting for Seth in their large puddle in the center of the cavern.

"Seth Sorenson!" exclaimed Orna, as her two sisters huddled around her. "You've returned to us!"

"And he brought Vasilis, too" said Berna. "Such a clever boy."

"And he's more than punctual, too," added Wilna. "He came a good week early!"

Seth smiled and nodded. "See, bet you weren't expecting that, were you?"

Berna scoffed. "We've been alive for eons. One mere week, let alone an entire year, is nothing to us. Feels like we were conversing with Patton Burgess only yesterday."

"And besides," said Wilna, "Zavarok repaid his favor to us months ago. It was one of the first things he did after becoming a free dragon."

"But wait..." said Orna, looming down at Seth. "Something is off about this human."

Berna and Wilna glared down at Seth as well.

"The darkness within him appears to be much greater now than it's been in the past," noted Wilna.

"About that..." said Seth. "This doesn't really have anything to do with you three, but the darkness within me has gotten stronger over the past few months. I was wondering if you three might know of a way..."

"It concerns us not," snapped Berna fiercely. "We've already provided a favor for you. Now it's your turn to do the same unto us."

Seth could feel his heart beating more and more heavily. There had been nothing but tension building up in his mind for the past few weeks. But now, it was all coming to a head. This was it. Seth's moment of truth. There was no avoiding it. And now it was time for Seth to face the music.

"So..." asked Seth. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

"We don't get too many visitors coming here in search of our knowledge," said Orna. "We wouldn't want to put your services to waste."

"Well, why don't you three think about it for a while," said Seth, "and I'll come back in a couple of centuries when you've made up your minds."

"But Seth," said Wilna, "we've already come up with a favor to ask of you."

"You have?"

Berna scoffed. "You think the three of us just lay about all this time doing nothing? Hardly. We have all the time in the world to think, plan and fine-tune our ideals."

"Which bring us to our favor," said Orna. As she spoke, Seth could feel his heart starting to sink down into the depths of his stomach.

"Are you familiar with... _Murdred_?" asked Wilna.

"Murdred?" asked Seth. He had never heard of such a name. "Who... or what... is _Murdred_?"

"Murdred is the ruler of the Demon Domain."

"That's the realm where demons come from!" said Seth. "It's their homeworld. But, I thought Gorgrog was their ruler!"

"Though your sister may have slain Gorgrog the Demon King with that very sword you hold in your hands, other demons still thrive," said Berna.

"Gorgrog left the Demon Domain to invade this world hundreds of years ago," said Orna. "As did a host of other demons. Fortunately, several wizards were able to fell those demons and imprison them in Zzyzx."

"In Gorgrog's absence," said Wilna, "Murdred, his disciple, assumed his role as ruler of the Demon Domain. Murdred has never left the Demon Domain, so his name and influence outside of that world is relatively unknown."

"So, what does this Murdred character have to do with me?" asked Seth.

"Murdred is a demon," said Berna. "And you're a shadow charmer. Yet you also possess a heart. What we want from you is for you to venture into the Demon Domain and defeat Murdred."

"Defeat Murdred?" asked Seth. "But... how?"

"Do whatever it takes," replied Wilna. "So long as it gets done. You don't even need to be the one to do so. However, neglect your obligation, and we promise that our pact that you made with us will kill you where you stand."

"Let me get this straight," said Seth. "You want me to travel to the Demon Domain and defeat Murdred, who is the ruler?"

"That is the gist of it," answered Orna.

"May I ask why? I mean, this guy may be evil, but he lives in another dimension and it doesn't sound like he's caused a whole lot of grief. Why do you want him dead?"

"Murdred is an embodiment of sheer darkness and hatred," replied Berna. His very essence functions as a life force for all the monsters that inhabit the Demon Domain."

"We've conjectured that if Murdred is stopped, perhaps the demons may lose their power," said Wilna.

"You don't even know if this will work?" asked Seth. "I thought you sisters had the power to find out anything and everything."

"We are incapable of seeking any knowledge hat has not been discovered," replied Berna. "We were able to inform you of the whereabouts of Vasilis and Hespera, because such information exists and was available for us to find. However, the mysteries of the Demon Domain are just that... Mysteries. Which is why were are unable to verify if our theory is truthful."

"So... say I do succeed in beating Murdred. But, his fall brings about no real shake-ups amongst the demon society. Will I have fulfilled my end of the bargain?"

"We are only asking of you to to defeat Murdred," replied Orna, "No more. _No less_. Whatever becomes of him after his downfall does not concern you."

"How would I even _get _to the Demon Domain?" asked Seth. "I mean, it'd seem like such a waste to send me on a mission if there isn't really any way for me to get to my destination."

"You are friends with several power fairies, are you not?" asked Berna. "Surely they must have the power to transport you into and out of the Demon Domain."

"I... guess. I mean, it's not as though fairies like them have any real desire to visit a place like the Demon Domain or anything. Which brings me to my next question. What am I supposed to do once I enter the Demon Domain? It's not as though any of us have ever been there before."

"Find out where Murdred is lurking," stated Wilna. "And defeat him."

"But, how?" asked Seth, as he held out Vasilis in his hands. "In case you forgot, the reason I brought Vasilis to you three is because you requested it as per our agreement. Beyond Vasilis, I don't really have a suitable weapon for this sort of thing."

"I think we've accumulated enough treasure over the millenia," said Orna. "Although its power is unparalleled, you'd put Vasilis to much better use on your mission than we ever would. Hold onto it. You'll need it far more than us."

"Okay," said Seth reluctantly. "I can do this. This doesn't seem too impossible. But... how will you know what I'm up to and if I've defeated Murdred or not?"

"Believe us," said Berna. "As long as our deal is still in effect, we have our ways of discovering what you're up to. If and when you defeat Murdred, we'll know about it. And if you instead choose to abandon your mission, we'll know about it and let you die."

"Yeah... but, are you sure you really want to use up your favor on this this?" asked Seth. "Killing some demon that we're all unfamiliar with? If I die while going after this guy, your favor will go unfulfilled."

"We're asking for you to at least devote some effort to this," said Orna. "Whether you succeed or not is not something we have control over."

"Seth, if you'd rather we just kill you now..." said Wilna.

"Al right!" blurted Seth. "I'll do it. I'll find a way to reach the Demon Domain and defeat Murdred. But if I can't so much as find a way to even reach the Demon Domain, I'm coming straight back here and demanding a task I'm actually capable of!"

"Certainly is a demanding, this one," noted Berna. "We wouldn't assign you a task if we thought it was impossible."

"Do you agree to go through with this?" asked Wilna. "If so, hold up your hand and confess."

"I agree," said Seth, raising up his right hand, palm facing forwards.

"Deal!" snapped Orna. As she spoke, Seth could feel a supernatural tingling sensation surging throughout his entire body.

"It's official," said Berna. "Seth Sorenson, you are hereby obligated to commit yourself into fulfilling our request of seeing to it that Murdred is defeated."

"Go now," said Wilna. "We have made our purpose clear to you. Travel to the Demon Domain and defeat Murdred. You are free to take your time with this. But don't you dare ultimately abandon your mission, or you won't live to regret it."

"I understand," said Seth, as he turned back around to face the stairway leading up towards the entrance to the Sisters' lair.

"Good luck, Seth," said Orna.

"You'll need it," said Berna under her breath, although her voice was still loud enough for Seth to hear.

Clenching Vasilis in his hand, Seth made his way up the stairway and pushed open the door that lay at the top. Once the door had been opened wide enough, the river troll on the other side greeted him.

"Another satisfied customer," said the river troll, displaying a devious grin on his face.

Seth paid the troll no attention. The thought of what he had just signed himself up for had now hit him like a ton of bricks. Warren was standing at the entrance to the cave. Presumably, he had been looking out at the river in the distance while Seth was downstairs in the lair of the Sisters.

"Seth," said Warren calmly, "how did it go?"

Saying nothing, Seth darted up to Warren, threw his arms around his cousin's body, and squeezed as tightly as he could. The heat that came from Warren's body undoubtedly felt like the warmest thing in the entire cave.

"Warren," said Seth, who felt as though he was on the verge of breaking out in tears.

"Seth, are you okay? Why do you still have Vasilis?"

"The Singing Sisters... They want me to travel to the Demon Domain and kill the head demon. If I can't do it, the Singing Sisters will take my life."

"I've never seen you like this," said Warren, patting Seth on his back. "This whole situation doesn't sound good at all."

"But what... or how... am I supposed to do any of this?"

"I don't know. I think we better go home and talk this over with the others."

Seth nodded, as Warren held out the Translocator. The moment Seth placed his hand on it, the artifact transported both him and Warren out of the cave.


	5. Surmising the Unknown

**Chapter 5: Surmising the Unknown**

Seth kept his eyes shut as the Translocator hurled both him and Warren through space. Only a moment had passed between the time they had been in the lair of the Singing Sisters on the Mississippi River, and when they reappeared in the living room at Fablehaven in Connecticut.

At the moment, the only ones who were sitting around in the living room were Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson. The unannounced appearance of Seth and Warren was nothing they hadn't experienced before, but still came as quite a shock to them.

"You're back," said Grandpa, as Seth released his fingers from the Translocator. "Why do you still have Vasilis?"

Giving no response to Grandpa, Seth dawdled over to large armchair in the corner, dropped Vasilis onto the floor and plopped his rear end down.

"Are you okay, Seth?" asked Grandma, as several more familiar faces entered the room, including Kendra.

"How did it go?" asked Kendra. "Did you receive your mission?"

Seth nodded, but didn't want to say anything.

"Warren," said Mr. Sorenson, what happened?"

Warren took a deep breath. "The Singing Sisters put Seth under a lot of pressure. I don't know if he has the confidence to talk about it in front of everybody."

"I can talk," said Seth. "The Singing Sisters want me to defeat the ruler of the Demon Domain."

"The Demon Domain?" asked Bright fearfully. "Th-th-th-that's the demon homeworld!"

"Yeah!" gasped Clover. "Us fairies have heard terrible things about the Demon Domain! If they're half true, I'd never want to travel there ever!"

"Lucky Clover is in luck," said Seth. "Cause _I'm_ the one who's gotta travel there, not you!"

"What do you fairies know about the Demon Domain?" asked Kendra.

"Not a lot," replied Bright. "But it's supposedly the polar opposite of the Fairy Kingdom. A harsh realm inhabited by monsters."

"So, it's like Fablehaven on a festival night?" asked Seth.

"Not exactly," said Clover. "Replace the normal creatures of Fablehaven with malevolent monsters, the forest with a harsh wasteland, and the one night with eternity. Oh, and there's no safe place to hide like the house here."

"Not trying to shoot you down," said Kendra. "But, how do you fairies know of this?"

"Fairies have travelled to the Demon Domain long ago to investigate," replied Bright. "The ones who made it back alive described the place as horrific."

"So, it _is_ possible for you fairies to enter the Demon Domain?" asked Seth.

"Yes, technically," said Clover. "Although I'm not quite sure of how to access the Demon Domain myself, the know-how clearly exists since fairies were able to travel there in the past."

"Would you be able to send someone else in? Like me?"

"Probably," replied Bright. She then snapped her fingers, prompting Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod to appear before everybody.

"What's going on?" asked Seth. "I thought you banished all the minor fairies, Grandpa."

"These three are an exception," said Grandpa. "They're here to learn about humans, and are willing to behave."

Bright snapped her fingers again, causing a piece of paper to appear in her hand. She handed it to Goldenrod. "Return to the Fairy Kingdom and give this to my sisters. We need to find out how to reach the Demon Domain."

"Are you out of your mind?" asked Passion.

"As a fairy princess, I order you to acknowledge my request."

"Okay!" said Goldenrod, as she, Passion and Larissa disappeared in clouds of yellow, red and blue sparkles.

"Great," sighed Seth. "Since getting to the Demon Domain is possible, I am now obligated into actually venturing there and defeating Murdred."

"Murdred?" asked Kendra. "Is he the successor to Gorgrog?"

Seth nodded. "Since Gorgrog left the Demon Domain, this Murdred fella seized the throne in his absence. The Singing Sisters are asking me to to travel to the Demon Domain and slay him. That's why they're letting me keep Vasilis. If I don't defeat Murdred, I'll die."

Mrs. Sorenson came over to Seth and gave him a hug. "You'll be okay, honey."

"Not if I don't deal with Murdred."

"Does anybody here know _anything_ about Murdred?" asked Kendra.

The whole room shook their heads.

"Maybe this whole thing won't be so bad," said Warren. "Seth, remember how effortlessly Kendra defeat Gorgrog using Vasilis?"

"Yeah. That was pretty impressive. If her fairy powers give her an edge, maybe Kendra should be the one to travel to the Demon Domain and slay Murdred. The Singing Sisters don't care who actually does it. As long as Murdred gets killed, I'm off the hook!"

"If the Demon Domain really is terrifying, like the fairies described it," said Kendra, "what makes you think I'm keen on travelling there just to deal with your stupid problem?"

"Kendra," said Seth. "You're a perfect balance between human and fairy. Out of everybody here, you're the best candidate for this."

"I was joking, Seth. Of course I'll do what I can to help you. I'll join you on your journey for sure."

"It'd be better if Kendra didn't go if she doesn't have to," said Grandpa.

Mrs. Sorenson whistled with her fingers. "Excuse me! Now, I know you kids have gone on some wild adventures before, but they've always been in this universe!"

"Your mother's right," added Mr. Sorenson. "What's travelling to this demon realm going to accomplish? You'll be on the demons' home turf, and stand to have a good chance of getting killed. And even if you do manage to kill Murdred, what's to stop another demon from rising up and taking the throne from him? It sounds way too dangerous."

"It's going to be a lot more dangerous for me if I abandon this mission," said Seth. "It's what the Singing Sisters want. Believe me, I'd rather just fetch them a chest full of gold or rubies or something. Wait... That's it!"

"What's it?" asked Kendra.

"The Omega Star! What's to stop us from using it to defeat Murdred?"

"Well, it can't be used to harm anybody," said Bright.

"So what? I don't need it to harm him. We could use it to extract Murdred from the Demon Domain and deal with him without ever physically leaving this world!"

"It'd be worth a shot," said Warren.

"In theory it could work," said Clover. "The Omega Star could only banish Navarog when it did, since he had already wished to live as a dragon forever. And it couldn't destroy Tritanoss either. But, if we use the Omega Star to stop Murdred right here and now, we won't have that problem!"

"You've got a point," said Bright. "But Scott mentioned that if Murdred even were to be vanquished, another demon would take his position."

"I don't care if another demon replaces Murdred," said Seth. "The Singing Sisters asked for me to go after Murdred specifically. Whatever happens regarding his successor is not my problem."

"I've already sent Goldenrod and the other back to the Fairy Kingdom to seek my sisters' knowledge," said Bright. "But this theory regarding the Omega Star is starting to sound much more manageable and safer."

"Have you fairies ever tried using the Omega Star to eliminate evil in the past?" asked Kendra.

"It normally doesn't work that way," replied Clover. "Since its power cannot be used to harm any living being, one must take careful consideration into its use. Another thing is that what it's actually used for can be quite controversial. There are many problems plaguing your world, but trying to fix them with the Omega Star could achieve imperfect results."

"Well, I've got what I want the Omega Star to be used for all planned out," said Seth. "Even if it can't fix what's wrong with me, it can at least get me out of this crazy mess I got myself into."

"I'm going to head back to the Fairy Kingdom myself and see if I can appeal for us to use the Omega Star to resolve this whole ordeal the smart way. I'll be back soon."

Bright snapped her fingers, disappearing in a cloud of rainbow sparkles which slowly fell to the floor as they faded out of sight.

For the next half hour or so, Seth had gone back up to his room, where he laid on his bed again. The stress that he had been under did not leave him in the mood

Kendra herself was not taking the situation much better than Seth was. She was sitting out on the porch swing next to Clover. Raxtus and Geminus were nearby, playing with Vanessa.

"Poor Seth," said Kendra. "Why does he keep getting himself into so many predicaments?"

"Must just be his nature," replied Clover. "Warren keeps telling me that he used to have terrible luck himself. What with becoming albino for two years and getting trapped in the knapsack. And unlike Seth, he didn't even have to rattle any cages for those things to happen. I know he doesn't always look before he leaps, but things don't always go his way."

"He's gotten better," said Kendra. "Especially since he met you. No matter what happened, you and the other fairies have always been there for him. Whether it's getting maimed by Navarog, consumed by Khaarupt or absorbed by Oblivion. The love and magic of fairies ensured his survival. I'd say he's _very_ lucky that you fairies have always been there for him."

"Too bad the fairies aren't very keen on hanging around with Seth," said Clover. "If he wasn't a shadow charmer, I bet Bright or one of the keepers would be fawning over Seth. Even if he has no fairy qualities, he'd still be the brother of the royal handmaiden, and a prize catch to someone."

Kendra blushed. Even though she was used to her status, it always tickled her fancy whenever someone reminded her that she was the Fairy Queen's handmaiden. "Thanks, Clover. But I just wish Seth and the fairies could just co-exist peacefully. I bet he'd be a lot happier as well. Besides, the yard is awfully lonely with all of the fairies relegated to the pond.

As Kendra spoke, she looked over in the direction of the pond, which was to the west. The sun was starting to set across the horizon. However, what really caught her attention were the several fairies that were flying towards the house.

"Look, they're back!" said Clover.

A moment later, the group of approaching fairies landed in front of the porch. Bright had returned to Fablehaven, bringing with her Bracken, Brillia, Bravia, Brook, Tiara and Opal. Also with them were Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod.

"Kendra," said Bracken, as he walked over to where Kendra was sitting. She immediately stood up and gave the fairy prince a kiss.

"Hey Bracken," said Kendra. "All of you, welcome back!"

"From what Bright's told us, this sounds like quite an ordeal," said Opal, holding onto the Disapirit in her hands.

_The instruments! _Kendra was relieved to see that Opal and the rest of the keepers had gotten clearance to bring their instruments over to Fablehaven.

"Come on," said Bright. "Let's get inside and figure out what we should do."

"Hopefully this'll work," said Tiara.

The news of the keepers coming back with the instruments was the most promising news that Seth had heard in quite some time. Newly invigorated, Seth bounced off of his bed and bolted down to the living room, where the rest of his family and the fairies had already gathered.

"That's everybody," said Mrs. Sorenson, once Seth had sat down on the couch between his father and Dale.

"Bright's already given us the lowdown on what needs to be done," said Bravia. "However, as the Omega Star is not a toy, we will allow it to be used by someone we trust more than Seth."

"I can't make my own wishes?" asked Seth.

"Look, at least they're actually letting us use it," said Kendra. "Just roll with it."

"Very well," said Brook. "Kendra, we'd always trust you. We'll unite the five instruments for you to use."

Everyone watched as the five keepers each placed their instruments down onto the coffee table, arranging them so that their golden bases were aligned with each other. Each base magically attached itself to its neighbors, allowing the Omega Star to form itself. It was now glowing far more vibrantly than the individual instruments had when they were kept separate.

"So..." said Kendra, bending down in front of the coffee. "Where do I begin?"

"First thing I would do is strip Murdred of his power," said Seth. "Then we can mess with him without any real risk."

"Okay," said Kendra, placing her palms upon the Omega Star. "I wish that Murdred was powerless."

Everyone remained completely motionless, waiting for the Omega Star to work its magic. However, nothing happened.

"It didn't work," muttered Kendra.

Brillia shook her head. "I had a feeling it might not."

"Are you sure it's working right?" asked Seth. "Try again, Kendra!"

"It won't make any difference," said Bravia, disconnecting the Drakesoul from the rest of the Omega Star "The power of the Omega Star must be ineffective towards the Demon Domain."

"What?" exclaimed Seth, who was feeling beside himself. "What do you mean?"

"Well," said Brillia, "you're all aware of how Omega Star can't be used against evil. But do you know why?"

"Because the five instruments have been imbued with fairy magic," said Grandpa. "Five fairies, one for each instrument, sacrificed their lives in order to power them up."

"And fairies cannot use their magic to inflict pain or harm unto another," said Warren. "Hence why the Omega Star has such a restriction."

"But, why can't it de-power Murdred?" asked Seth. "Unless the Sisters lied to me and there is no Murdred."

"I'm not entirely sure about this," said Brillia, "If I were to guess, I 'd say that the sheer force of the entire Demon Domain is so dark and wicked, that even the power of the Omega Star isn't enough to penetrate it."

"But I thought the Omega Star had unparalleled power," said Kendra.

"Not against darkness," said Tiara. "And the Demon Domain is an entire world that's rooted in darkness. Simply put, it just won't work. As long as Murdred resides in the Demon Domain, its safe to assume he's protected from the power of the Omega Star."

"Well, so much for that plan," said Warren. "Looks like we've gotta do this the old-fashioned way."

"Great," said Seth, "we got Omega Star set up for nothing!"

"If it's any consolation," said Kendra, "it would've cheating. At least now you can do it the honest way."

"I'd rather _cheat_ and have it count than put my life in unnecessary danger."

"So," said Clover, "if _cheating_ is out of the question, it looks like you're going to need a method of entering the Demon Domain."

"That was our backup plan," said Bravia. "We brushed up on some tomes, and there is in fact a way to access the Demon Domain."

"What's that?" asked Kendra, who wasn't quite sure that she even wanted to learn the answer.

"There is a method that a fairy angel can use to open a portal between this world and the Demon Domain."

"Does it involve a demon shrine or anything?" asked Clover.

"We don't believe so," said Brook. "The Demon Domain isn't bound by the same forces as our Fairy Kingdom. Because of this, it's not too hard for demons to breach their realm and enter the human world. Likewise, travelling to the Demon Domain from this world is much easier than travelling between here and the Fairy Kingdom."

"We'll go over the specifics with you fairies later," said Opal. "Not that we've tried it ourselves, but accessing the Demon Domain doesn't seem all that hard. Also, you can open a portal from within the Demon Domain and use it to return to the human world.

"So, we have a way into and out of the Demon Domain," said Warren. "So, how exactly do we find Murdred and get to wherever it is he lives?"

"The Occulus?" asked Seth.

"How?" asked Kendra. "None of us have ever seen Murdred or the Demon Domain with our own eyes. We can't envision something that we don't even recognize."

"If fairy magic is needed to pass between this world and the Demon Domain," said Bracken, "then a fairy is going to have to accompany Seth. "Is that even wise?"

"Wise, no," replied Brillia, "but mandatory, yes. Regrettably, the environment of the Demon Domain would be hazardous to even the mightiest fairy. I recommend any fairy who goes spending as little time in the Demon Domain as possible. Or they would lose the power to escape and fall prey to the harsh world."

"But... we don't know how long this journey will take," said Brook. "They could be in there for a few hours, or days even!"

"I think at least two fairy angels should accompany Seth on this mission," said Tiara. "If one should start to feel faint, the other can use their power to escape."

"What if both of them start to succumb to the darkness at the same time?" asked Kendra.

"Let's pray that such a thing never happens."

"So, who's going to come with me?" asked Seth, holding up his hands. "Tiara said I should have at least two fairy angels with me."

"I'll go," said Bracken.

"Me too," said Bright. "Clover, I'll need you to stay behind and watch over the preserve."

Clover nodded in response.

"I'm coming too," added Warren.

"Same here," added Kendra.

"I'd rather you didn't," said Bracken, placing his hand on Kendra's shoulder. "I don't like the idea of you putting yourself in such a dangerous situation. It's enough stress on your family that Seth needs to go."

"What about Raxtus?" asked Seth.

"Better not," stated Bright. "He and Geminus are fairy dragons. The fewer fairies who have to enter Demon Domain, the better. By going on this mission, we can't even fathom just what we're getting ourselves into."

"Then it's settled," said Grandpa. "Warren, Bracken and Bright. You three will accompany Seth on his journey into the Demon Domain. It's getting close to dinner, so I propose that you retire for the night and make preparations to head out first thing tomorrow morning."


	6. The Demon Domain

**Chapter 6: The Demon Domain**

The following morning, Seth woke up not feeling very refreshed in the least. He had been tossing and turning in bed all night, barely managing to get any sleep. The face of his digital alarm clock showed that the time was 7:12. Knowing that his life depended on him not abandoning his duty, Seth slunk out of his bed, feeling both groggy and tense.

After freshening up in the bathroom and putting on a new change of clothes, Seth found his way to the dining room, where the rest of his family was eating breakfast. Also at the table were Bright and Bracken. As he approached the table, everybody wished him a good morning.

"Well, this is it," said Bracken, who then proceeded to take a bite out of a piece of jam-coated toast.

"Seth, you look miserable," said Mrs. Sorenson, as she placed a mug of hot chocolate down in front of her son.

"Can you blame him?" asked Grandma.

"Look at the bags under his eyes," said Kendra, who was able to tell that Seth had not slept well in the least."

"Guys, I really don't need any criticism," said Seth, as he took a sip of his hot chocolate. Normally, Seth enjoyed the hot chocolate that was made from Viola's milk, but today, he could barely taste it.

"We made you a hearty breakfast," said Dale, as he placed a plate down in front of Seth. On the plate were two large sausages, a poached egg and hash browns.

"Thanks," said Seth, as he reached for a bottle of ketchup, then proceeded to start eating his breakfast. Although he normally appreciate his family's cooking, he was not savoring any of the flavor. However, it did succeed in filling his belly.

Once breakfast was finished and everyone had washed up, they all went outside and gathered around in a spot on the front lawn. Seth and Warren were both carrying their bags of travel gear. Looking over at Warren, Seth got the impression that he was not intimidated in the least.

"Well, if you guys are ready," said Bright, "we can open a portal right here and be on our way."

"I really don't like the idea of you fairies opening to the Demon Domain right here at Fablehaven," said Grandma.

"I don't like the idea of them opening one of those portals _anywhere_," noted Grandpa. "What if creatures from that world start coming through the portal?"

"We can close the portal from the other side the moment we all pass through," said Bracken. "I can't see how any monsters will have the time to slip through the portal in the short time we keep it open."

"Please be careful," said Mrs. Sorenson, giving Seth a hug. In acceptance, Seth hugged her back.

The rest of the family then wished the group the best of luck and said their goodbyes.

Bright took in a deep breath, then held her hands up in front of herself. She closed her eyes, prompting a ball of glowing white light to appear within her hands. The ball flew about two feet away from her, then suddenly expanded into a swirling vortex, roughly seven feet in diameter.

"This is it," said Bright. "If my intuition is correct, I have successfully conjured up a portal to the Demon Domain."

"Well, come on," said Warren. "The less we leave that portal open, the better.

"I'll go first," said Bracken, stepping into the portal. As his body passed through into the light, it appeared to vanish from sight.

"Here goes," said Warren, following Bracken through the portal.

"I can do this," said Seth, as he walked right up to the portal. He then took a deep breath and took one great step into the mysterious vortex.

The moment Seth made contact with the portal, he passed right through it. Rather than remaining back at Fablehaven, Seth had now stepped into a world entirely new to him. He, Bracken and Warren were no longer standing on grass, but rather a rocky plateau. The sky above them was not blue with white clouds, but instead red with smokey grey clouds.

"So this is the Demon Domain?" asked Seth, as Bright stepped through the portal.

"Supposedly," replied Bracken, as Bright used her magic to quickly dispel the portal behind her.

"Doesn't seem very pleasant now, does it" said Warren, observing the scenery around him. Seth continued to look around. There was almost no plant life, save for a few scraggly trees with spike-liked branches and hardly any leaves. And what few leaves there were, all appeared to be dried up and dying.

"I feel... weird," said Bracken, placing a hand onto his forehead.

"That must the influence of the Demon Domain," said Bright, nodding in agreement. "Us fairies are highly susceptible to it. We'd be more powerful in our unicorn forms, so let's transform."

"We need to be careful," said Bracken, as his body shapeshifted from that of a fairy into his silvery-white unicorn form. Likewise, Bright had transformed into a white unicorn with a rainbow mane and tail.

"Are you two feeling okay?" asked Warren.

"A bit better," replied Bright. "For now. Get onto our backs and we'll give you a ride."

"But we can't stay here for too long," said Bracken, as Seth climbed up onto his back. "If we lose succumb to the negative energies of the Demon Domain, we'll become too weak to open a portal back to the mortal world. And there's no guarantee that the Translocator will work in here."

"But how will you know when that is?" asked Warren, who had mounted himself upon Bright's back.

"We're just going to have to trust our guts on this."

Seth braced his hands upon Bracken's neck, his fingers sifting through the hairs of the unicorn's mane. He gazed around at his surroundings, but could see nothing beyond acres and acres of dank, rugged, gnarled terrain and mountains in the distance.

"Where do we go from here?" asked Seth. "How do we find Murdred?"

"We have no leads," said Bright. "We could try homing in on him with our power, but with so much darkness flowing throughout the land, I don't know how we'd ever pinpoint him."

"We must at least try," said Bracken. "Maybe we could try to pinpoint where the greatest concentration is emitting from, and follow its path."

Glowing auras of rainbow energy appeared around Bright and Bracken's horns, and the two unicorns began gazing around.

"Find anything?" asked Warren.

The was a brief pause. "No," replied Bright, who continued looking around.

"Either Murdred's too far away, or there's too much interference," said Bracken, as he and Bright disabled the magic that was coming from their horns.

"Great," said Seth. "We're in some strange world looking for somebody, and we don't even know where to find him."

"We might as well just start exploring and see what we can find," said Warren.

"We better not fly," said Bracken. "Not only could it give us away, but it in this world, would also drain our magic at a faster rate."

With Seth and Warren holding onto them firmly, Bracken and Bright began to take off in one direction. As the unicorns galloped across the Demon Domain, they saw little beyond what appeared to be jagged rock formations, dying plants of indeterminable breeds and pits in the ground. Scattered across the land were piles of large, monstrous bones, easily large enough to rival the dinosaur bones on display at the museum.

"What if I gave that detection thing a try?" asked Seth. "I've been able to use it to find fairy energy in the past. Maybe I can use it to find Murdred."

"I wouldn't count on it," said Bright. "Trying to find Murdred in the Demon Domain is like trying to find a needle in haystack."

"More like finding a needle in a mountain of nails," said Warren, "if the sheer vastness of this place is anything to go by."

"It's hopeless," said Seth. "Part of me just wants to go back to the Singing Sisters and let them take my life."

"Don't say that, man," said Bracken.

"Why not?" asked Seth. "This quest is impossible. The fairies at home hate me. My darkness is getting... well... _darker_. Even if I somehow do succeed, there's nothing that can be done to fix my current situation."

Soon they came upon a a rocky wall with a crevice wide enough for the two unicorns to pass through. The crevice was not very deep, and they soon emerged out on the other side.

At that moment, two figures jumped down from the wall behind the group and landed in front of them.

"What the..." gasped Bright.

Seth took a moment to study the two creatures. One of them best resembled a brown, twenty-foot, serpentine monster that had four limbs with pincers on each one. The other one slightly reminded Seth of what Bigfoot allegedly looked like, standing a good ten feet tall with olive fur. Both monsters possessed long, sharp fangs, and in the case of _Bigfoot_, hook-like nails.

"Who are these weirdos?" asked the serpentine monster."

"Two humans riding on... are those unicorns?" asked Bigfoot.

"Where is Murdred?" asked Seth.

"Why do you wish to know?" asked the serpent. "And how are you fluent in our tongue?"

"It's a lot to explain."

"Seth can understand them," said Bracken, who sounded confused.

"For a human, I can sense great darkness from this one," said Bigfoot, pointing at Seth.

"What's with the unicorns?" asked the serpent. "Why are you riding one? What are you doing here?"

"I want to see Murdred. Where can I find him?"

"Murdred might be interested in you," said Bigfoot. "But first, we must eliminate those unicorns!"

"Oh no," said Seth. "Back off."

"Seth, what's going on?" asked Bracken, as the two monsters slowly approached him and Bright, claws and pincers raised above their heads.

"THEY WANT TO KILL YOU!" blared Seth, as Bigfoot lunged at Bracken, who quickly leapt out of the way. Likewise, the upright serpent tried to pounce towards Bright.

"Come on!" exclaimed Warren, as she unsheathed the sword from the scabbard on his back. "Use Vasilis!"

Following Warren's lead, Seth drew Vasilis from his scabbard, and flailed it around in the air.

"It's not working!" cried Seth, as Bracken trotted around the area, trying to avoid getting assaulted by Bigfoot. Try as he might, Seth seemed to be unable to get Vasilis to flare up like it normally did when he needed it to. "Something's wrong!"

"I don't know!" exclaimed Warren, as Bright danced around to avoid getting crushed by the serpent's pincers. "Use it like a normal sword!"

"Come on, Seth," said Bracken. "I'll jab him with my horn, you use Vasilis."

"Easier said than done," said Seth, as Bracken kept backing away from Bigfoot each time the monster swiped in their direction with his massive claws.

"Take that!" snapped Warren. Seth looked over towards Warren and saw that he had successfully sliced off one of the serpent's arms with his sword while riding Bright. The serpent was writhing in agony.

"Take THIS!" snarled Bigfoot, as he dove directly at Bracken. The impact from the massive monster knocked Bracken off of his hooves, and Seth to fall down off of Bracken, dropping Vasilis. Seth and Bracken were now laying on the ground, and had already taken a fair beating.

"Oww," moaned Seth, as he felt the scrapes he had just acquired from falling onto the rough ground. Bracken's legs also appeared to be scraped up a fair bit.

"Got you!" roared Bigfoot, as he stomped right up towards Seth, lifted him off of the ground and hoisted him up into the air. Unable to move, Warren and Bright both yelled at Bigfoot, demanding for him to put Seth down.

Warren removed his sword from the head of the freshly-slayed serpent, and turned to face Bigfoot.

"Come any closer and I'll get rough with this one," hissed Bigfoot, even though Warren and the others were unable to understand him.

"Warren, don't!" cried Seth.

At that moment, Bigfoot screamed in pain, prompting him to drop Seth down to the ground. Ignoring the impact, Seth looked up and saw a beam of rainbow energy spiralling out of Bracken's horn and into Bigfoot.

"The light!" roared Bigfoot, raising his arms in an attempt to shield himself.

Bright then unleashed a spiralling beam of rainbow energy from her horn towards Bigfoot, prompting the monster to scream even more.

"You'll regret this!" snarled Bigfoot, as he scampered away from the group. Once he was out of range, Bracken and Bright ceased their energy beams. Bigfoot then leapt onto a boulder in the distance and was soon out of sight.

"That was incredible!" laughed Seth. "You two should've just done that from the start!"

"It may have worked," said Bright, walking over towards Seth and Bracken, "but that took a lot out of us. Especially in this world."

"We don't have the endurance in us to take on any and all of the monsters we may come across here," said Bracken.

Seth looked at his swollen hands, and could feel the bruises he had gained from falling on his arms and legs. Bracken appeared to be scraped up, and Warren's shoulder had apparently been sliced open by the serpent.

"We're a mess," said Seth, as he reached into his pouch and pulled out the Sands of Sanctity. He proceeded to tip artifact's tail-like spout onto his wounds, but no sand managed to come out.

"What's wrong, Seth?" asked Bracken.

"Something's wrong. The Sands of Sanctity isn't working. It feels... empty."

"That can't be," said Bright, bending her head down to touch the artifact with the tip of her horn. "It must be an effect of the Demon Domain. If I can't restore its powers, no one can."

"No one is right," said Seth, who still failed to pour any sand.

"Get the healing potions," said Bracken, prompting Seth to reach into his bag again and remove several small vials filled with pink liquids.

"Maybe we should save these," said Seth, passing a vial to Warren. "We don't have too many. Maybe we should go home and heal there."

"You saw the direction that monster ran off," said Warren, popping the cork out of his vial."Maybe he went after Murdred. If we leave now, we'll have no surefire way of getting back to this point. We'll be back where we started."

Seth proceeded to pour one of the vials down Bracken's open mouth. "I hope you guys are all right. What if more monsters come after us?"

"If we don't press on, we'll never move forward," said Bracken, standing back up onto his hooves. "I'm feeling better now thanks to the potion."

"Question," said Seth. "If we were to leave through a portal right here and right now, why can't we just return to this same point?"

"We can't control where in the Demon Domain a portal might lead to," said Bright. "Going home is a different story, but if we open another portal back to the Demon Domain, who knows where we'll wind up if we pass through it."

"The only way to do this," said Bracken, "would be to enter the Demon Domain, find and defeat Murdred and get out, all in one visit."

"Can you guys even keep going?" asked Warren.

"Hopefully," answered Bright. "Even though we have potions that can heal wounds, we have no way of restoring our light energy within this world."

"Our light energy will slowly decrease the longer we stay here," said Bracken. "Using our power against that monster only helped in depleting it."

"There they are!" came a voice.

Seth and the others all looked in the direction that the voice had come from. It was the same one that Bigfoot had run off in. Perched up on a distant boulder were three figures.

"What're those?" asked Seth.

"I don't know," replied Bracken. "But I'm sure they're trouble."

The three figures leapt down from the boulder, bent down on all fours, and proceeded to run towards the group.

"Brace yourself," said Warren, wielding his sword. Likewise, Seth did the same with Vasilis.

One the figures got close enough, Seth could see that they were somewhat humanoid, but sported fur and wolf-like heads. Although they had similar builds, one had red fur, one was blue, while the other was green.

"What have we here?" asked the red figure, as he and the other two stood up on their hind legs only several feet away from the group.

"We can understand you?" asked Warren.

"Who are you guys?" asked Seth.

"We're adlets," replied the blue one. "And we heard that there was an unusual presence in the area!" The blue sniffed the air around himself, then looked at Seth. "What is a dark one like yourself doing with these... _unicorns_?"

"You're coming with us," said the green one.

Warren charged towards the adlets with his sword, only for the blue and green ones to charge towards Warren in unison, knocking him onto his back.

"Don't get any ideas," said the red adlet, as Seth aimed his sword towards the trio. "What we did to him we can do to you."

"Enough!" neighed Bracken, as he shot a spiralling blast of rainbow energy at the red adlet, causing him to roar in pain.

Bright proceeded to blast the green adlet with her own energy beam, irritating him in the same manner as Bracken did to the red one.

A moment later, Bracken and Bright cut their energy beams. The two unicorns both appeared to be weary, as did the red and green adlets.

"We can't keep this up," said Bright between breaths.

The blue adlet then walked up towards Seth. Although not nearly as tall as Bigfoot, the monster loomed over Seth. Seth swiped at the adlet with his sword, but the creature grabbed him by his sword arm before the blade could make contact.

"I got him!" roared the blue adlet, danging Seth in the air by his arm.

"Put him down!" said Warren, who was back on his feet with his sword in position.

"Those unicorns are tough," said the red adlet, wiping his brow.

"We got what we came for," said the green one. "Let's just get out of here!"

The blue adlet proceeded to run off on three limbs, holding Seth off the ground with the fourth. The red and green adlets followed.

"Let me go!" screamed Seth, struggling to get out of the adlet's grasp. He looked back at his friends. Bright and Bracken looked too bushed to give chase, while Warren couldn't possibly keep up with the adlets' speed. This was it. After spending no more than twenty minutes in the Demon Domain, Seth had already been captured.


	7. Destitution

**Chapter 7: Destitution**

In spite of the havoc that had been going on in the Demon Domain, the family back at Fablehaven was completely unaware of just how bad things had gotten. Wanting to get her mind off of the whole situation, Kendra had taken to spending some time with Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod in the garden.

Presently, Kendra was sitting down on a garden chair, her hands covering up her eyes.

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!" said Kendra, removing her hands from her face. "Ready or not, here I come!"

Kendra stood up from the chair, and proceeded to look around the garden. She had agreed to play a game of hide-and-go-seek with the three fairies. Kendra offered to be "it", because she figured that the tiny fairies would make much better hiders within the garden than she ever would.

Kendra got down on her knees and gazed between the stems of flowers that had been arranged in a flowerbed in an attempt to locate one of the three fairies. Like her brother, Kendra wasn't one to play hide-and-seek since she was no longer a young child, but the fact that the three fairies were fairly juvenile kind of made it appropriate.

"You three better be somewhere within the garden," said Kendra, getting back onto her feet. The idea to play hide and seek had been Passion's idea. Kendra wondered why she had never thought to play with the fairies like this before. It probably had to do with the fact that normally, the garden was brimming with fairies, making a game such as this a lot more difficult.

"Where are you girls?" asked Kendra, as she continued to look around.

One of the reindeer, who happened to be in wandering near the garden, slowly walked up to Kendra.

"Hey, Vixen," said Kendra. "I'm in the middle of looking for Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod.

Vixen nodded, then turned her head and looked down at nearby rock next to a small pond within the garden.

"Over there? Vixen, don't give their location away! That's cheating!"

The reindeer whimpered and lowered her head.

"I'm not upset," said Kendra, patting Vixen on his head between the antlers. "But I'm trying to challenge myself."

Kendra continued to look around for the three hiding fairies. Without warning, a portal appeared on the lawn only a few yards away from where she was standing, nearly scaring her half to death.

"What the?" asked Kendra, watching as Warren, followed by Bracken and Bright in their unicorn forms, all made an emergence from the portal.

Kendra was quick to notice Warren's ripped, blood-stained shirt. She could also tell that the two unicorns looked quite exhausted.

"What's going on?" asked Kendra, as Bright turned around to face the portal and expelled some magic from her horn to close it. With the portal now closed, Kendra suddenly realized that Seth was no longer with the group. "Where's Seth?"

Warren shook his head, holding up Vasilis and Seth's dropped pouch in his hands. "Seth got... abducted."

Kendra's heart missed a beat, just as she dropped her jaw. "What... how?"

"The monsters..." gasped Bracken. "They were... too overwhelming!"

"They could've killed us," noted Bright.

"_Your_ mom _is_ gonna kill us," said Warren.

Kendra shook her head. Warren and the two unicorns looked like they were about to faint. "This is horrible! How did this happen? Are you three... okay?"

"We need to... regain our power," said Bright, as she lost her balance and collapsed onto the grass.

"All the garden fairies are gone..." said Bracken wearily, as Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod flew up to the unicorns.

"What happened to you?" asked Larissa. "Are you hurt?"

"We need... light energy," said Bright. "More than you three fairies would have put together."

"We need Clover," said Warren. "And the dragons."

Kendra needed to act fast. She looked around and saw that two reindeer were standing nearby.

"Vixen," said Kendra. "I need you to go to the pond and get Clover back here. Comet, you go find Raxtus and Geminus. Hopefully they're in their lair."

The two reindeer nodded, then galloped into the air and soared off in different directions.

"Kendra, stay with the unicorns," said Warren. "I'm in good shape, so I'll go inside and get the others."

Kendra knelt down and observed the two unicorns that had crouched down into their sitting positions. They appeared to be all right physically, but why did they act as though they had been weakened so greatly? She proceeded to place the palm of her hand upon Bracken's forehead. In response, the unicorn nodded his head in approval.

A moment later, various family members made their way out of the house and came up towards where Kendra and the others had been waiting. At around the same time, Vixen returned with Raxtus and Geminus, who had brought Vanessa along with them.

"This _is_ serious," said Geminus looking down at the two unicorns.

"What happened to them?" asked Raxtus.

"Please just give them some of your strength," said Warren. "Ask questions later."

The two fairy dragons stepped up before Bracken and Bright. Bending their heads down, they both opened their mouths and exhaled a white and pink sparkling mists of some sort. Their breaths settled upon the two unicorns, and seemed to dissipate on contact.

After a few seconds had gone by, Bracken and Bright both let out joyous neighs, then reverted to their more humanoid fairy forms.

"Thanks!" said Bracken, as he stood up in unison with his sister.

"I feel much better now," said Bright, smiling with pride.

A moment later, Comet made his return, followed closely by Clover.

"Why are you back?" asked the green fairy angel, as she and Comet descended next to the group. "What's going on?

"We may have fixed a small problem," said Warren, "but we still have a far more critical one to contend with."

"Seth has been abducted," said Mr. Sorenson.

"In the Demon Domain?" gasped Clover.

The others nodded.

"How did that even happen?" asked Mrs. Sorenson, who was shaking her head and had placed an arm around her husband.

"The more time and magic we use up in the Demon Domain," replied Bracken, "the weaken Bright and I become."

"The monsters there are powerful," said Warren. "And the best weapon against them is light energy. Unfortunately, light energy doesn't seem to last all too long there."

"We used up most of our energy trying to fend off a trio of adlets," said Bracken. "It weakened them, but not enough. They made off with Seth. We didn't have the power to keep going."

"Adlets got Seth?" asked Kendra. "What's an adlet, anyway?"

"Large, wolf-like, demonic monsters that normally walk upright," replied Warren. "There didn't seem to be anything we could do to stop them. They ran off with Seth, but Bracken and Bright were too weak to give chase."

"And by that point," said Bright, "we barely had the combined strength required to even a open a portal back to Fablehaven. We would've been stranded in the Demon Domain, only for our power to diminish even further."

"Or we'd have been devoured by the natives," said Warren. "Whatever might've come first."

"What about the Translocator?" asked Grandma.

"It wasn't working," said Warren, holding up the artifact. "The darkness of the Demon Domain seems to have depleted its power, not unlike the effects that the Skullifier has."

Warren presented the Translocator to Kendra, who proceeded to place her fingertips on it. She could suddenly feel energy flowing out of her body and into the Translocator, seemingly recharging it.

"I believe I fixed it," said Kendra, removing her hand.

"So, what's your plan now?" asked Geminus. "What are you going to do about finding Seth, or

stopping Murdred?"

"I don't know," answered Bracken. "Even though we're healed now, traversing through the Demon Domain just seems to be too taxing on us."

Grandpa scratched his chin. "Just a theory, but maybe being in the Demon Domain with a shadow charmer on your back isn't the best thing in the world for you."

"Too bad that shadow charmer is the one who needs to be there more than the rest of us," noted Warren.

"True. But if you reenter the Demon Domain without Seth, Bright and Bracken might fare better."

"I don't know if it'll make that much of a difference," said Bright. "Bracken and I surveyed the darkness that was flowing throughout the land. It's everywhere."

"If they're going back to look for Seth," said Kendra. "I want to come."

"Kendra, gasped Mrs. Sorenson. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure."

"It's enough for us to lose one of our children... again!" said Mr. Sorenson. "Why should you risk your life in a world that totally clashes with your very soul and spirit?"

"Because I won't let anything stand in the way of the love that I have for Seth," said Kendra. "With the help of my friends, we took on insurmountable odds to free Seth from Navarog and came out on top."

"I'm with you Kendra," said Warren. "We can't just... give up. But there's still the issue as to what we should do to help Bright and Bracken. Nothing will change the fact that creatures of light are susceptible to the darkness that flows through the Demon Domain."

"We could try some sort of distractor spell ourselves,"noted Bracken. "Just have Clover or somebody cast it the moment before we enter the Demon Domain."

"A distractor spell cast with light magic would ultimately deteriorate in place like the Demon Domain," said Bright. "Still, it's better than going unprepared."

"The less magic we have to use on this trip, the better," said Bracken.

"Maybe some more healing potions?" asked Warren, holding an empty vial upside-down.

"It'd be better if we didn't have to use those," said Bright. "And fighting as few monsters as possible would be the best way to ensure that."

"What about Vasilis?" asked Kendra. "Didn't that work?"

"When Seth used it, he was unable to unleash its actual power," replied Bracken. "It was no different than using an ordinary sword. Not enough to overwhelm the large beasts that confronted us. It's power was likely hindered by being in the Demon Domain."

"I don't mean to sound brash, but I've always had better luck with Vasilis than anyone else, probably due to me being fairykind. I might as well try it."

"Fairyprime!" said Goldenrod. "Why not just let Kendra become fairyprime and storm the Demon Domain! We could help, even!"

"It'd be way too risky," said Bracken, shaking his head and waving his hands. "Kendra may be quite powerful in her fairyprime form, but we don't know what we'd be up against in the Demon Domain. Not to mention she'd have to travel to the Demon Domain while already in that state."

"It'd be like cutting grass one blade at a time," said Warren. "In theory, it seems possible. But eventually you'd get tired or simply give up. And if somehow you actually managed to cut every last blade, the first ones would've just grown back by that point."

"I don't see what other choice we have," said Grandpa.

"So what do we have to do, exactly?" asked Kendra. "Should we go back to the spot where Seth was kidnapped and pick up from that same point?"

"I'm afraid we can't," replied Bright.

"Why not?"

"When we open a portal to the Demon Domain, we've got no control over where exactly the other end of it will appear," stated Bracken. "There's no surefire method of returning to where we last left off."

"I don't mean to rain on your parade," said Dale, but if the fairies can't control _where_ in the Demon Domain that their portals will lead too, then finding Seth would be like trying to win the lottery. I mean, the Demon Domain is an entire world."

"If it's anything like the Fairy Kingdom, then perhaps not," said Bracken.

"That place is anything _but_ the Fairy Kingdom," said Bright.

"I know. But I got the impression that the Demon Domain is the dark equivalent of our own homeworld. And while the Fairy Kingdom is a whole other realm, separate from the mortal realm, it's nowhere near as large."

"True," said Bright. "It's nowhere near as vast as the mortal realm on Earth is. In fact, it's actually quite small."

"So you're saying that the Demon Domain might not be too large either?" asked Grandpa.

"We can't be sure," said Bracken. "If that's the case, then tracking down Seth might not be as impossible as it seems. Our real problem still lies in the fact that fairies like us can't withstand the darkness of the Demon Domain."

"So none of your magical tools were functioning in the Demon Domain?" asked Grandma."

"Correct," replied Warren.

"But why would simply being in the presence of the Demon Domain be enough to neutralize the powers of the artifacts?" asked Kendra. "Or Vasilis?"

"The artifacts have always been fuelled by light energy, haven't they?" asked Grandpa. "Usually, it's you, Kendra, who's been the one to start up the artifacts with your magical touch when they're initially dormant."

"So exposing the light-powered artifacts to the Demon Domain only strips them of their power," said Bright. "Similar to the effect of the Skullifier it would seem."

"What about Vasilis?" asked Kendra. "It never needed charging."

"Vasilis is a sword of light and darkness," stated Grandpa. "We're not too certain as to how it works, but if I were to take a guess, it's that it too was overwhelmed by the darkness within the Demon Domain and ceased to work, even when Seth truly needed it."

"I've got a question," said Geminus. "If the Demon Domain is cancelling out light energy left and right, then why were Bright and Bracken still capable of using their powers, let alone stay alive?"

"I'm not sure, myself," replied Clover. "When we did our brushing up on the Demon Domain, the texts stated that fairies would succumb to the darkness of that world in time, but not instantaneously."

"Of course," said Bright, "one needs to bear in mind that we fairies are living, sentient, creatures. The artifacts and Vasilis, while capable of wielding great power, are essentially just glorified tools with no free will of their own. So while they do incorporate light energy into their power, they lack any form of heart."

"You think there's a chance of them working any better if I were to come along and use them myself?" asked Kendra.

Bracken rolled his eyes. "I doubt it, Kendra. "No offense or anything. "I understand where you're coming from being fairykind and all, but if royal unicorns like Bright and I were unable to restore those artifacts while we were in the Demon Domain, what makes you think that you'll fair any better?"

"I think I might still have a chance," said Kendra. "Of course this is just a theory and I could easily be wrong."

"What is it?" asked Bright.

"Well, when the three of you returned from the Demon Domain, you unicorns were in a lot worse shape than Warren was."

"So?" asked Bracken. "We expelled our power to counter the monsters there."

"Yeah, but you said that simply being in the Demon Domain weakened your power. And Warren, did you ever feel yourself getting weaker?"

"Only when I got attacked by those monsters," replied Warren. "But hey, can you blame me?"

"But Warren, you're fairystruck," said Kendra. "Which makes you a human being with minor ties to the fairy race. But that didn't seem to be a hindrance to you. I'm fairykind, which is a greater balance between human and fairy. Maybe it's this balance that could give me an advantage in the Demon Domain. I wouldn't be as susceptible as a true fairy because I'm human, but I'd still have significant advantages."

"This is purely speculation on your behalf," said Grandpa. "But still, I prefer any theory as opposed to no theory at all."

"Look, we're going back for Seth," said Warren. "Even if we have to chance it."

"But even that won't be enough," said Mr. Sorenson. "That Murdred still needs to be vanquished, does he not?"

"He might already be dead," said Mrs. Sorenson, wiping away tears from her eyes.

"The Occulus!" said Kendra, suddenly remembering that she could still use it. "Let me try the Occulus."

"Being in the Demon Domain probably caused it to lose its power like the other artifacts," said Warren. "But it should work so long as you recharge it."

Warren removed the Occulus from Seth's dropped pouch and presented it to Kendra. Once the artifact had been placed in her hands, she could feel energy from her body flowing into the magical orb.

"Hopefully this works," said Kendra. "It's one thing for this thing to not work in the Demon Domain. It's another for it to not let one see into the Demon Domain from our world."

Kendra clenched the Occulus in her hand and began to focus on her brother. Finding him should be easy. She knew Seth and what he looked like all too well. Kendra had probably spent more time in her life looking at Seth than her own face. If that was the case, then why was she seeing nothing but black? Wanting to make sure it worked, Kendra envisioned Doren instead. Suddenly, she could see the satyr and his friend Newel watching a talk show on television whilst inside a small cave.

"It's not working," said Kendra, opening her eyes and "I can't see Seth."

"I had a feeling it might not work," said Bracken. "The energy of the Demon Domain is too powerful for a fairy-powered artifact like the Occulus to piece through."

"Unless Seth is no longer himself," said Mrs. Sorenson. "He could be dead, or transmogrified... Who knows!"

"I don't know what happened to Seth," said Warren. "But I'm not going to give up hope."

"I think a bit more preparation and reassessment is in order," said Grandpa. "Now that you have some idea of what the Demon Domain is like, you can at least try to better ready yourselves for your return visit."

"The sooner we can get back to find Seth," said Kendra, "the better."


	8. Murdred

**Chapter 8: Murdred**

Dangling in the air with his arm in the firm grip of an adlet's claw, Seth was helpless as he found himself being hauled away from his allies. In less than thirty seconds, they had disappeared from his line of sight, and Seth was now at the mercy of the adlet trio.

Seth had tried everything from trying to squirm out of the blue adlet's grasp to smacking the beast with his free hand and yelling at him in an attempt for the monster to let him go. But the adlet was resilient, and was more than willing to put up with Seth's fighting.

Seth even attempted to use his power over darkness to try and seduce the adlets. He tried to focus as best he could, but alas, he attempt had no effect.

"Where are you taking me?" asked Seth, as the adlets continued scampering across the boulder-filled, rugged wasteland, speedily and meticulously.

"We're taking you to see Murdred," said one of the other adlets. Seth was unable to discern which one had spoken, due to their voices all being similar.

"Murdred?" asked Seth, who was wishing he hadn't dropped his gear earlier. The situation was only escalating to worse and worse levels. On the contrary, at least he was getting a free ride to the being he had been sent to kill. "Why are we going to see this Murdred?"

"I don't know what you or those unicorns were doing here," said the green adlet, "but there's definitely something exceptional about you."

"But we don't know what that is," said the red adlet. "So, we're taking you to see Murdred. Let him deal with you."

"Consider yourself lucky," said the green one. "If you weren't so special, we'd probably have eaten you already."

"You wouldn't want to eat me," said Seth. "I'm probably not that..."

"Tasty?" asked the blue one. "We've been to your world many times. We like the taste of human. Such an exotic treat."

Seth could tell that there was no getting away from the three adlets at the point. Even if he could somehow wriggle himself free, the adlets were too tough to fight and too swift for him to outrun. He was entirely at their mercy.

After a few minutes had passed, the adlets were soon approaching a large structure; the first and so far only piece of architecture he had seen since arriving in the Demon Domain. It was hard for Seth to get a good view, but the structure appeared to resemble a castle.

Constructed almost entirely out of taupe rocks, the castle appeared to be as wide as a palace, and roughly as tall as a highrise. As the adlets brought Seth closer, he noticed that the castle was surrounded by what appeared to be a deep moat, although it was too hard for him to discern how deep it went due to his perspective.

The adlets soon scampered over the moat on a wide bridge built out of the same blocks as the castle. Even though there were no walls on the bridge, it was too wide for Seth to look down into the moat below as they crossed over.

Once they reached the other side of the bridge, the adlets stopped next to the front entrance to the castle. Standing at the entrance was a large sentry of some sort, whom to Seth best resembled a cross between a gorilla and a warthog with purple fur.

The sentry snorted at the group and sneered at Seth.

"We've got a present for Murdred," said the red adlet. "Don't get in our way."

"Fine," grumbled the sentry, his eyes still fixated on Seth. "But a measly human makes a lousy present."

Not wanting to say anything, Seth continued to let the adlets carry him into the castle. The entry hall was vast, filled with corridors leading off into dark voids, staircases that appeared to be too large for a human to traverse normally, massive stone pillars and railings lining the upper floors.

The adlets darted over the central staircase, and proceeded to scamper up the first flight of stairs. Much like Navarog's castle in Iceland, this one had been built on a scale for creatures larger than humans.

After climbing several flights of stairs, the adlets brought Seth down a corridor, filled mostly with flaming sconces. Soon they came across a set of massive doors forged entirely out of solid metal, presumably steel.

"Open," said the green adlet.

Upon hearing the adlet's command, both of the large doors slowly began to open inwardly. A large room was revealed to Seth, with a large dais dominating a good portion of the far end.

As the adlets brought Seth towards the dais, Seth could see a large figure, most likely a demon, seated upon what had to be a throne. The figure had to be Murdred. To Murdred's right stood two humanoid figures. The closer Seth got to Murdred, the easier he became to make out.

If he were standing up, Murdred would've been no more than eight feet tall. He had inky black skin, at least a dozen horns, rusty spikes protruding from his joints and sickle-like nails and claws. There was also a large indentation, possibly a scar, running vertically down the center of Murdred's elongated forehead.

"A human?" asked the Murdred, who came across as sounding rather perturbed. "Why have you brought a human to me?

"This isn't just _any_ human," said the blue adlet, finally releasing Seth from his grasp by tossing him down at the base of the dais. Although he was relieved to be free from the adlet's grip, Seth did not appreciated being flung onto the stone flooring, and stumbled to stand up.

"Not just any human?" asked the male humanoid. Seth looked up at the two humans and saw that they appeared to resemble full-sized fairies of all things. The male had short, black hair and matching bat-like wings. The female was a redhead, with orange wings that resembled flames. "What makes him so special?"

"He's giving off dark energy," said the red adlet.

"Is that so?" asked Murdred. "Check him out, Helwic."

The female fairy walked down to the base of the dais, and stood before Seth. Not much taller than Seth himself, Helwic placed her hands over Seth and began moving them around his body.

"Xipp was being truthful," said Helwic, lowering her hands.

"What do you want with me?" asked Seth. "Who are all of you?

"I want you to answer my questions first," said Murdred. "Now, it would appear that you do indeed possess the power of darkness to some extent. Why is that? A human boy as youthful as you are does not strike me as a likely candidate for a dark soul."

"I'm a shadow charmer," said Seth, hoping that his reveal wouldn't land him in even greater trouble.

"A shadow charmer?" asked Murdred, as everyone dropped their jaws in disbelief. "But how? Shadow charmers have all but disappeared. Except for possibly the Sphinx, whom I have been unable to locate. But tell me, shadow charmer. What is your name?"

"Seth."

"Are you from the mortal realm?"

"Yes."

"And how did you wind up here?"

"We found him in the Demon Domain with two unicorns!" said the blue adlet.

"Unicorns!" roared Murdred. "In my world?"

"Look, it wasn't exactly... pretty," said the green adlet. "They attacked us with light energy! It really stung!"

"Where are these unicorns now?"asked Murdred.

"We dunno," replied the blue adlet. "We didn't want to mess with them."

"I'm more interested in Seth at the moment," said Murdred. "Why would a shadow charmer like yourself associate with such deplorable creatures of light?"

"Look, I'll be honest," said Seth. "I'm not evil like you... folks are. I mean, I'm a shadow charmer, yes. But, I'm not interested in malice."

"So you associate with _unicorns_ of all things?" asked the male fairy. "You must be pretty clever. There's no way any unicorn would be dumb enough to trust a shadow charmer."

"And just what were all of you doing in the Demon Domain?" asked Murdred.

"We were... exploring," said Seth. "See, these unicorns wanted to explore the Demon Domain, so they convinced me, a shadow charmer, to help them out."

"Those despicable savages! And _you_, for willingly working with them! You are a traitor!"

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, most fairies don't really care for me very much."

"Whatever..." said Murdred. "You needn't bore me with all the details. Now, I don't believe I've introduced myself. I am Murdred. I am the Lord of the Demon Domain."

"Are you the Demon King?"

Murdred snorted. "King? Bah! I am the Demon _God_! This realm is my realm. I say what I want. I do what I want. And get what I want!"

"I'm familiar with Gorgrog," said Seth. "He was a lot bigger than you, and he was only the Demon King."

"Ahh, Gorgrog," said Murdred with a smile. "He was powerful, yes. But I'm an even greater force to be reckoned with. You see, Gorgrog inheriting the Demon Throne was purely his birthright. I, however, was Gorgrog's hand-picked disciple. I was originally a human being from the mortal realm, just like you. I got to where I am today through sheer determination, not fate. That puts me in a class even greater than Gorgrog."

Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing. Murdred was once human? He was starting to imagine slowly transforming into a demon himself against his will. Especially with his inner darkness getting greater and greater.

"I get how you chose to arrive at this point," said Seth. "But, what is it that makes a god like yourself greater than a king?"

"Because unlike Gorgrog, I am one with the Demon Domain. All the darkness and ill intent from your world seeps through into this one, and I serve as the focal point for all of it. The creatures here honor and respect me for that sheer fact alone. There has always been hatred and darkness flowing through from the mortal world into this one. And there always will."

"I get it," said Seth. "Sort of. But just how evil are you? And why?"

"That's a tricky question. Some of it is just inherent. I was brought up to believe that people not of my class were worthless scum that I would never associate with. And for good reason. Different classes of people had their own beliefs and values. But the integration of different classes sickened me. Ultimately, I lost faith in humanity."

Murdred's story didn't make a lot of sense to Seth. It was an explanation, sure. But it only made Murdred sound like an insensitive person.

Anyway," said Murdred, pointing to the two fairies. "These two here are Demoric and Helwic. My personal negafae."

"Negafae?" asked Seth. He'd recalled hearing that word before. Of course! Back when they had found the Skullifier, Bravia had speculated that the artifact had been crafted from the Skull of a negafae. "Aren't you like evil fairies or something?"

"Evil fairies?" hissed Demoric. "How dare you say that!" Sneering at Seth, he pointed his finger at him and shot a black bolt of energy. Upon being hit, Seth quickly shrunk down into a much smaller frame. Unable to observe himself, Seth could feel that he had grown a tail and amphibian feet.

The adlets and Helwic all laughed.

"Turn him back," huffed Murdred. "NOW!"

"Fine," said Demoric, using his power to restore Seth back into a human. "But don't ever think of us as evil _fairies_. If anything. Fairies are light negafae!"

"I don't think he knew," said Helwic. "There was no need to turn him into a salamander over it."

"I get it," said Seth, "I'm sorry."

"Not often we hear the S-word," said Demoric. "Best be careful with this one, Lord Murdred."

"I think he understands who's boss," said Murdred. "Anyway, the three adlets who brought you here are Xipp."

The red adlet nodded.

"Xeero,"

The blue one sneered.

"and Xillch."

The green one smiled.

"And you're a shadow charmer."

"So what?" asked Seth. "I tried to use my power here earlier, but it didn't work."

"It figures," said Demoric. "You haven't adapted to our world yet. The darkness coursing throughout the land is far too great for even a shadow charmer like yourself to contend with."

"Then why are you so interested in me if I'm so useless to you?"

"Because there's still potential within you," said Murdred. "Potential is what changed me from an average human being into overlord of the Demon Domain."

"What are you getting at?" asked Seth.

"Your power isn't very impressive right now," said Demoric. "But we can still harness it to increase Murdred's."

"I'll never work with you! So you can forgot it!"

"But being a shadow charmer, as you mature, your power is only going to get greater and greater. Inevitability, this surge in power will corrupt your heart."

"Look, I'm not like you!"

"I'll make a deal with you," said Murdred. "You have two choices. You can agree to join forces with me, and I will crown you as my disciple. By agreeing with me, any trace of love and goodwill within your heart will instantly vanish. Or, we can lock you in the dungeon indefinitely. Either until your change your mind all on your own, or the darkness of the Demon Domain changes it for you."

"I don't want to work with you at all! In fact, I'd rather you just kill me right here, right now!"

"Kill you?" laughed Murdred. "You're far too valuable to consider killing. Your fate is uncontrollable. Now, what intrigues me is your history with fairies and unicorns. How does a shadow charmer become acquainted with fairies and unicorns? The only place where fairies are generally found in the mortal realm are around fairy shrines. Most of which are on those menageries they call _preserves_. I take it you have some ties to one of these preserves."

Seth didn't want to say anything. He refused to speak.

"I'd take that as a _yes_," said Helwic.

"Okay!" blurted Seth. "I live on a preserve! That's why I have ties with fairies!"

"And _unicorns_?" asked Murdred. "A unicorn is a rarity. I don't know how you even discovered the ones you did, but a shadow charmer earning the trust of _two_ of them is unheard of!"

"Look, I didn't earn their trust by being evil. It had nothing to do with me being a shadow charmer. I befriended them."

"Whatever. Right now I am more interested in you than those unicorns. How did you get to become a shadow charmer? Who inaugurated you into our society?"

"I made a pact with a demon," said Seth, starting to wish he hadn't.

"Which demon?" asked Murdred curiously.

"His name was Graulus." The mention of the name earned several surprised looks from Murdred and the negafae.

"Ah, Graulus," said Helwic with a grin. "Haven't heard that name in quite some time."

Seth snarled. "Listen! I am an enemy of your kind. I personally slayed Graulus and Nagi Luna!"

"I find that a bit hard to fathom," said Murdred."Last I recalled they were wasting away on preserves. If you even _did_ slay them, it probably wasn't hard."

"Well, believe what you want to believe. I don't belong anywhere. Most fairies can't stand me, and it seems that you just want to take advantage of me."

"All I want from you is your will. And I'm going to get it some way or another. If you agree to give in to me right away, it will expedite the whole process and neither of us will need to wait it out."

"Why do you want to increase your power so badly anyway?" asked Seth. "You seem powerful enough as it is."

"Despite our power, the negafae and myself are strongly intertwined with the Demon Domain. Consequently, we are unable to leave this world. But, by harnessing the power of a mortal we would be able to sustain ourselves in the mortal world."

"You... you want to invade my world!" exclaimed Seth.

"We found _you_ running around in _our_ world!" snapped Xillch.

"You can't invade my world!" said Seth. "I won't... I won't let you!"

"This argument is clearly going nowhere," said Demoric. "I say we just throw him in the dungeon for now. That'll shut him up."

"Agreed," said Murdred. "Maybe Seth here needs some time to stop and reflect on his current situation. Xipp, Xeero, Xillch! Escort Seth down to the dungeon. In the meantime, Demoric, Helwic and myself will try to come up with a game plan of our own."

"Come here, you!" said Xipp, grabbing Seth with his red, hairy claw and hauling him up onto his shoulder, so that Seth was facing backwards.

"I'd rather die than give you the chance to invade my world!" said Seth, looking back at Murdred as Xipp carried him towards the entrance to the throne room.

"Shut up, you," said Xillch, as Xeero told the doors before them to swing open.

The adlets carried Seth out of the throne room and down into a basement of the castle. Before long, they had emerged in the hallway of what had to be a dungeon. Xeero walked up to a metal door with a barred window and commanded it to open up.

Xipp then removed Seth from his shoulder and tossed him through the open door. Seth landed on the stone floor of the cell with a flood, just as Xeero ordered the door to close shut.

"We'll be back later to check on you," said Xillch, his green face peering through the bars of the window. "Enjoy your stay."

Seth heard the adlets laughing as their footsteps carried them away and out of the dungeon. Looking around his cell, which was no larger than his bedroom at home, Seth saw absolutely no furniture. Just a cold, stone floor for him to sit on.

Getting back up onto his feet, Seth walked up to the door and gazed out the window. There appeared to be a few other cells in the dungeon, but from what he could tell, they were all empty. He was all alone.

"Open!" said Seth, trying to repeat the command that Xeero had used to open and close the doors throughout the castle. "Open! Come on, open!"

After several more tries, Seth concluded that the door would never respond to his voice. After giving up, he started wondering as to what could have happened to Warren, Bracken and Bright. Seth pondered the thought as he sat down on the hard floor, leaning his back against the wall. Nobody knew where he was, and given how much trouble the two unicorns had in the Demon Domain, the odds of him being found were slim to nil.

"I hate this place," said Seth, curling up into a ball as tears started to run down his cheeks. "I want to go home."


	9. Out of Bounds

**Chapter 9: Out of Bounds**

Kendra ran her hands through her hair as she sat back in a cushioned chair. She was currently in the parlor at Fablehaven, seated in front of one side of an exquisite, square-shaped wooden card table.

Sitting across from Kendra was Warren, while Bracken and Bright were seated to her right and left respectively. Spread out across the table were an assortment of papers, potion vials and various little trinkets.

"Do you really think we stand a chance, going back into the Demon Domain?" asked Bright.

"I don't want to have to go back to that place," replied Warren. "But we have to. For Seth."

"You guys didn't last there very long last time," said Kendra. "How's another trip going to play out any differently?"

"We'll have distractor spells cast upon us prior to entering," replied Bracken. "Hopefully, it they'll succeed in not only keeping demons away, but prevent them from even so much as detecting us in the first place."

Kendra picked up a light fragment and rotated the white crystal around in her hand. At one point Trask had explained that light fragments worked as crystallized light energy.

"Your power is also limited while in the Demon Domain."

"Unfortunately," said Bright. "And something such as a light fragment isn't going to do us a lick of good. It doesn't have any life to it. One of these things is going to fail on us the minute we step through another portal, just like the artifacts."

"So, what can we bring?" asked Kendra, setting the light fragment back down onto the table.

"You can't go wrong with potions," said Warren, pushing several vials together into one small cluster with his hands."Too bad there's no kind of potion out there that restores light energy."

"The problem is that light energy is... well... pure energy," noted Bracken. "It can't be contained as a fluid for someone to drink."

"And even if it could, I'm willing to be that it still wouldn't work in the Demon Domain," said Bright.

"Kendra, you've got Vasilis and I've got my own sword," said Warren. "Bright and Bracken can fight with their horns. I don't know of any way for the unicorns to conserve their power, so they should only use their magic as a last resort."

"If all else fails, we open up a portal and get out of there," said Bracken.

"I hope we make it this time," said Kendra. "I hope we can rescue Seth. If he's even still alive."

"Those monsters we fought didn't seem interested in killing him," said Warren. "I just pray that Murdred isn't interested either."

Once they had packed up all their gear, Kendra, Warren, Bracken and Bright all headed back out onto the front lawn, at the same spot where the portals they had used to initially access the Demon Domain were.

"Are you guys sure about this?" asked Clover, floating over towards the group and landing next to Warren.

"It needs to be done," said Warren.

"Then let me come with you. And Raxtus! And Geminus! From what I understand, you'll need all the help you can get in the Demon Domain."

"We'd rather you didn't," said Bracken. "The fewer fairies that go out to risk their lives in this place, the better."

"But what if something happens to you?"

"That's just going to be a risk we'll have to take," said Warren, giving Clover a kiss on the lips.

"I don't want to worry about any of you. Please let me come."

"Clover, I'd prefer it if you stayed here and watched over Fablehaven. Besides, we need someone to cast the distractor spell and activate the portal for us, so that Bracken and Bright don't have to use their power."

"I understand," said Clover. She stood before Kendra, Warren, Bracken and Bright, then raised her hands into the air. Green sparkles flew out of Clover's hands and soon engulfed the group in a cloud of mist. Kendra could feel as her body seemingly absorbed the sparkles that had surrounded her and watched as Warren, Bracken and Bright experienced the same sensation.

"Now, the portal." Clover turned in one direction and used her power to conjure up a portal. "I only wish I control where this thing will lead you."

"Any way you can help, we appreciate," said Warren, patting the fairy angel on her back. "Well, let's do this."

Warren stepped through the swirling vortex, followed by Bracken and Bright. Kendra followed behind, looking back at Clover. She could sense that the fairy wasn't happy about the situation. Soon Kendra's view of Clover had been replaced with the other end of the portal.

The portal then closed shut, presumably thanks to Clover back at Fablehaven.

Kendra looked around and at last had the chance to see the Demon Domain with her own eyes. The place sounded just as intimidating and dreadful as the others had described it. Kendra could see the red sky, the smoky clouds and the the dreary, rocky terrain.

"Where is this?" asked Bright, trying to figure out at where exactly they had ended up.

From what Kendra could see, the group had arrived on a flat, elevated ledge of some sort, no more than a few yards in diameter. In the distance, there appeared to be craggy taupe mountains in every direction.

"Wonder if we can get down from here without having to fly," said Bracken, as he and Bright used their power to transform into their unicorn forms.

Kendra stepped over towards an edge of the platform, then peered down. They appeared to be standing on the top of spire. Roughly fifty feet beneath her, there appeared to be a small lake of glowing orange and black lava surrounded the spire.

"Whoa!" said Kendra, backing away from the ledge. Even though she was being cautious in her movements, Kendra was afraid that she might slip off and plunge to her death.

"Hoo boy," said Warren, looking down at the lava. "It's like we're completely surrounded by lava."

"Isn't lava supposed to be really hot?" asked Bright.

"Yup," replied Warren. "Normally people can't even get this close to lava without boiling to death."

"Then how are we still alive?" asked Kendra. "It doesn't even feel that hot right here."

"Must be an effect of the Demon Domain," said Warren. "The heat of the lava must be more restrained than in our world. When we went to Vertigo Volcano, we had to drink special potions to withstand the heat. Still, I'm willing to bet that this lava would still roast you to a crisp if you were to fall in."

"We can't climb down," said Bright.

"Maybe we should go back through the portal and try another one?" asked Kendra. "See where it takes us?"

"That would probably only waste energy," said Bracken. "Not to mention, time. We'll just fly a short distance to safety."

"Okay," said Kendra, climbing up onto Bracken's back. Likewise, Warren mounted himself atop of Bright.

"There's a cliff over there," said Warren, pointing off in one direction. Kendra looked where he had been pointing, and could see the aforementioned cliff probably a hundred feet or so away.

"We can do this," said Bracken, as he galloped into the air and proceeded to fly off the spire. Bright followed his lead.

Holding onto Bracken as tightly as she could, Kendra looked down at the sea of lava beneath them. There were several smaller spires jutting out of the molten rock, but beyond that, no safe real safe spots. Now that they were in the Demon Domain, Kendra was afraid that Bracken might lose his power in mid-flight, causing him to fall to their deaths.

Once they were slightly more than halfway across, the group could hear screeching coming from the lava below.

"What was that?" asked Kendra.

"As long as it's down there and we're up here, I don't want to know," said Bright.

"Look out!" yelled Warren, as the source of the screeching started to rise upwards.

Bracken and Bright made a beeline towards the cliff and soon their hooves made contact with the edge of the surface. As they turned around, they saw what could best be described as a large, flaming bird, flapping it's large, fiery wings to stay aloft over the lava.

"Is that a phoenix?" asked Kendra, as Bracken slowly backed away from the blazing monstrosity.

"If it was in lava, it may be a lavocet," said Warren nervously.

"How'd it spot us?"

"The distractor spell won't repel anything that actually manages to make eye contact on it's own merit." replied Bright.

The lavocet, which probably had a wingspan of close to twenty feet, unleashed a loud screech, then spewed out a stream of fire from its beak towards the group.

"Come on!" yelled Bracken, as he proceeded to run away from the lavocet as fast as his four legs could carry him. Bright galloped along right by his side.

Kendra looked back and could see that the lavocet was chasing after them, blasting fire in their direction.

"We can't outrun this bird forever!" exclaimed Bright.

"And I don't have a practical weapon for something like this!" said Warren. "Man, there's never a fire extinguisher around when you really need one."

"Vasilis," said Kendra, drawing her sword. "Maybe I can get it to work here."

Kendra reached her hand towards the scabbard she was wearing on her back, and withdrew Vasilis from it. Clenching the sword's hilt in firmly in her hand, she tried to focus, hoping to ignite the weapon's true power.

"Come on, Kendra," said Warren. "We don't have all day!"

"Whoa no!" cried Bracken, as he abruptly stopped before what appeared to be a river of lava, at least thirty feet across. Only several feet away from the lava, Kendra could now feel a fair amount of heat radiating from the river.

"I can't get Vasilis to work!" gasped Kendra, as the lavocet neared in towards the group. "There must be too much darkness here that's overwhelming it!"

"Bracken, we can use those rocks as stepping stepping stones!" said Bright, aiming her horn at a series of boulders that were sticking out of the lava.

By this point, the lavocet had caught up with the where the group was. It was floating only a few feet above the ground, screeching furiously.

"Enough!" cried Bright, as she used her magic to conjure up a blast of water from her horn. The water spurted out at the lavocet, causing it to squawk in agony.

"Take this!" neighed Bracken, as he too shot some water from his horn at the lavocet.

Still screeching and squawking, the lavocet turned around and flew of in a mad rush.

"Showed him!" said Warren. "Thanks, you two!"

Bright panted. "Luckily that actually worked. Bet that lavocet doesn't get to experience water all that much."

"Yeah, and it wasn't too taxing on our power," said Bracken.

"But it's power that you unicorns can't get restored as long as we're here," said Kendra.

"I think we can keep going," said Bright.

"We're going to have to," said Warren. "We won't be making any progress if we don't."

"So, where to now?" asked Kendra.

"This was the direction we were travelling in, before we were so rudely interrupted. But if this way will get us any closer to Seth or not I have no idea."

"We don't need to cross the river if it's too dangerous," said Kendra. "If we don't know where we're going anyway."

"We've come this far," said Warren. "We may as well continue exploring and see what we can find."

Bracken and Bright carried Kendra and Warren down the path of the lava river. Even though the heat wasn't much of an issue, the two unicorns kept a fair distance away from the shore, just as a precaution.

"Aside from that lavocet, this spell seems to be working," said Kendra, observing the barren landscape around her."

"I bet we would've been targeted a lot more by now if we'd have come here without it," said Warren.

"Invisibility would've given us an even greater advantage," said Bracken. "But without the Disapirit, which wouldn't work here anyway, it would be too much trouble for our magic between trying to see each other and draining our own power."

After walking along unprovoked for several minutes, the unicorns came to the edge of a cliff, overlooking a vast canyon, the bottom of which was over one-hundred feet deep and filled with lava.

"This looks like a dead end," said Bright. "We'll have to turn around."

Kendra looked around and saw an inclined path nearby which they could continue down. "Look, over there," she said, pointing to one side.

"We might as well try it," said Bracken, as he walked over to the incline, which turned out to be a path leading down the side of the canyon.

The group continued down the path, walking down the side of the canyon. The path itself was fairly narrow; barely enough room for a unicorn to turn around on. Despite their current circumstance, the view from up where they were was actually quite vast and breathtaking.

"Let's face it," said Bright. "We're lost."

"Not as lost as Seth," said Warren. "We can't let him suffer like this. You guys always came through for me when I needed help."

"I know," said Kendra. "But at least that was help we were capable of."

"I thought I'd _never_ get out of that knapsack," said Warren. "But unlike me, Seth isn't in a secluded area. We _can't_ keep him waiting. We may not know where to find Seth, but it's no reason to admit defeat."

They soon reached an area where the two sides of the canyon nearly converged closely together. Connecting them at one point was a long, winding ledge, serving as a bridge of sorts that intersected with the path the group had been travelling down.

"We could cross over here," said Bracken, as he stopped next to the ledge, turned to his side and faced it.

"Seems sturdy enough," said Bright, pounding her hoof down onto the ledge, which was wide enough to be traversed. "We might as well try it."

Bright and Bracken proceeded to walk along the ledge, which looked to be maybe ten or so yards across to the other side.

Just then, a large figure leapt down onto the far side of the ledge, screaming like an angry monkey. The figure, which was brown and looked a lot like a giant gerbil with beetle-like mandibles on it's snout, was no more than six feet tall, and possessed an equally long tail. The creature raised its front claws and unleashed a loud hiss from its mouth, revealing a fearsome set of sharp teeth.

"What is that thing?" shrieked Bright, as the creature bent down on all fours and slowly crept over towards the group.

"I don't think close range combat is ideal for this thing," said Kendra, eyeing the creature's mandibles. "Looks like it could snatch a sword with those mandibles."

"Behind you," said Bracken, as he turned around. Standing on the other end of ledge was a massive red serpent, which had coiled itself completely around the ledge, with its head poised upwards.

The gerbil monster slowly crept closer towards the group, snapping its mandibles open and shut fairly rapidly.

"Back off!" snapped Kendra, instinctively drawing Vasilis from the scabbard on her back. She knew her chances against the two monsters were not all that great, but it was better than sitting around and panicking.

Kendra leapt down off of Bracken and walked up towards the nearing gerbil-like monster. She didn't know enough about the inhabitants of the Demon Domain, but Kendra figured that a rodent was likely less hazardous than a snake.

"Careful," said Warren sternly, as Kendra readied Vasilis in her hand. Standing no more than two feet away from the monster, Kendra swung Vasilis directly at it.

The monster retaliated by closing its mandibles, successfully clenching Vasilis with it in mid-swipe. Kendra tried to pull Vasilis out of the monster's grasp, but its hold was too tight, even when she tried with both hands. Kendra then lost her grip on Vasilis, as the monster swung it out of her reach.

"Kendra!" said Warren's voice from behind. "Get out of the way!"

Not knowing what Warren had asked of, Kendra moved to the side of the ledge. Just then, she was a barrage of bullets flying from Warren's direction and into the creature. Kendra could see that Warren was unleashing an assault on the monster by blasting it with a machine gun. The monster, which was now full of bleeding bullet holes on its front side, collapsed face down on the ledge, dropping Vasilis.

"Is it dead?" asked Kendra.

"I would hope so," said Warren, stuffing the small machine gun back into his case.

"Wait, what about the serpent?"

"Already taken care of," said Bracken, as Kendra turned her head back to where the serpent had perched itself. It was no longer there.

"You used your power to scare it off?" asked Kendra. "We were so preoccupied with the serpent I didn't even notice what happened."

"We had no choice," said Bright. "It would've attacked us otherwise."

"You fairies might want to consider using guns," said Warren, receiving irritated looks from Bracken and Bright. "Kidding... Just kidding."

"What matters now is that we're all still here and alive," noted Bracken.

"It took a fair bit out of us," said Bright. "But it's no reason to just give up now."

Kendra looked back at the gerbil monster, which was now laying down on the ledge unconsciously, surrounded in a puddle of its own blood. Kendra bent down and picked up Vasilis. Observing the blade of the sword, Kendra presumed that it had been completely unscathed, save for a bit of monster blood which had come in contact with it. Wiping off the blood as best she could, Kendra placed the sword back in her scabbard.

"Well then," said Warren, using his sword to slide the monster off of the ledge and into the chasm below. "We'd better keep moving onwards."

"_Seth_," said Kendra to herself, "_where are you?_"


	10. A New Friend

**Chapter 10: A New Friend**

Several hours had gone by since Seth had initially been locked up in a cell within the dungeon of Murdred's castle. During that time, Seth had inspected the place from top to bottom, hoping to possibly find a secret passage that he might be able to escape through. There always seemed to be some secret panel in the movies that the hero could use to sneak out of their cell undetected. Naturally, that logic didn't apply here.

Seth had also tried to force the door to his cell open. He figured that since the dungeon seemed so old and abandoned, there might be a possibility that it might be easy to bust open the lock or something. But of course, the door was more than sturdy enough to keep Seth locked up for good.

Sitting down on the floor of his cell, Seth didn't know what he could do at this point. There was clearly no method of escape from this place that he could think of. If what Murdred had told him was true, then Seth's only way out of this situation would be to willingly surrender himself to the Demon God.

What had happened to Warren, Bracken and Bright? Were they all right? Did they give up? Did they even know where he had been taken? Would they even know what to do in order to rescue him? Seth had so many questions, and nobody was going to give him any answers.

Right now Seth was feeling truly devastated. Why had the Singing Sisters forced him into undertaking this mission? There was nothing that Seth could do. If he agreed to help Murdred, not only would he lose his soul, but the Singing Sisters would just kill him anyway.

Worst of all, Seth truly felt alone. Sure, it was better than being interrogated by Murdred. But he had nobody to be with and nothing to do. He did have his phone on him, but the Demon Domain had no service. Although he could play games on it until the battery died, Seth opted to save energy and shut the phone off.

Seth just wished that he could be back at Fablehaven with his family. No adventuring, no bizarre monsters. Just sitting down with everybody that he loved in a safe place was all that Seth wanted at the moment. All the fairies ganging up on him was looking pretty good right about now.

"Put me down!" shrieked a female voice, which had caught Seth's attention. From what he could tell, the voice had come from the entrance to the dungeon.

"Look, if you want to whine, whine to your new little friend!" said one of the adlets, whose voice Seth could sense was getting closer. At that moment, the red adlet, whom Seth presumed was Xipp, stuck his face up towards the window of the door.

"Open!" said Xipp, prompting the door to swing open. From what Seth could see, the three adlets were all standing there. Xillch was carrying a human girl, whom he proceeded to toss into the cell. Xeero then slammed the door.

Seth looked down at the girl, who was attempting to get up from her fall. She appeared to be in her early teens, with brown, wavy hair. What was going on?

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Seth, holding out his hand to offer the girl some help.

"Thank you," said the girl in a soft voice, as she placed her own palm down against Seth's and used his support to get back on her feet.

"This is your new cellmate," said Xeero, speaking from the other side of the door.

"Consider yourself lucky," said Xillch. "We don't get too may prisoners. If it were up to us, we'd have eaten the both of you on sight."

"And if we _ha_d to lock you up," said Xipp, "we sure wouldn't want to put the two of you together."

"Enjoy yourselves!" said Xeero, as he and the other adlets made their way back out of the dungeon, snickering with one another.

Breathing heavily, the girl looked over at Seth, allowing them to see each other eye to eye. Who was she? And what was she doing here?

"Uh, hi," said Seth. "My name's Seth.

"Sarah," replied the girl, looking at the scrapes on her palms which she had gained from being tossed into the cell.

"What are you in for?"

Sarah closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "I'm a shadow charmer. Just like you."

"You are?" gasped Seth. "Wait, how did you even know about that?"

"Murdred and his two negafae told me about you."

"So you're a shadow charmer? Just like me?"

Sarah nodded in agreement. "Until today, I thought I was the only shadow charmer out there."

"I think we both have a fair bit of explaining to do," said Seth. "Like, how'd you even get to be a shadow charmer in the first place?"

Sarah sighed. "I guess as long as I'm here, I might as well tell you. You see, my uncle is the caretaker of a preserve in Washington state. Mythic Grove."

Seth thought to himself. Mythic Grove did sound like the name of an actual preserve. He'd recalled hearing the name in passing probably once or twice, but knew little beyond that.

"Anyway, my uncle often invites my family up to Mythic Grove for the summer. So we're all familiar with the magical creatures and milk and all that."

"So how'd you get to become a shadow charmer?" asked Seth.

"It started when I befriended a centaur at Mythic Grove," said Sarah. "I'd always been told to avoid the centaurs, but this one seemed friendly. Little did I know that she was actually a weakened demoness by the name of Darqina, who was simply using a centaur avatar to gain my unsuspecting trust. She attempted to convert me to the dark side, but because I refused, her power only managed to make me a shadow charmer. Darqina then transformed into her true form, but because she was weak, the fairies of the preserve were successful in banishing Darqina back into her lair."

"Man," said Seth, "that's not too far off from my story."

"What is your story?"

Seth went on to explain how he came to arrive at Fablehaven in the first place, and how he had wound up at the point where he ultimately gained his shadow charmer powers through Graulus.

"Can't say I'm familiar with any demons to know about Graulus," said Sarah. "Other than Darqina. But I'm glad that I've finally found another shadow charmer. I know that the Knights of the Dawn like to keep things confidential, but I would've been thrilled to know that I wasn't in fact the only known shadow charmer out there."

"Same here," said Seth, looking Sarah in her face. Had it not been for the fact that she was claiming to be a shadow charmer like himself, Seth never would've guessed so otherwise. Likewise, he wondered if she was thinking the same way about him.

"So, how'd you wind up here?" asked Sarah.

"It's a long story."

Sarah smiled. "You think I'll be going anywhere so fast? Take your time."

"Well, I don't want to reveal too much," said Seth. "But one year ago, I made a pact with these three immortal beings known as the Singing Sisters. They provided me with some information."

"What kind of information?" asked Sarah.

"It's... not something I want to get into. Besides, it's irrelevant to what I'm getting at. So anyway, in exchange for this information, I agreed to come back in one year's time and fulfil a favor for them. This favor was to travel to the Demon Domain and defeat Murdred."

"Defeat Murdred? He seems really powerful!"

"Well, I travelled here with some allies, but we were overwhelmed by the Demon Domain's dark atmosphere. I got caught by those three adlets..."

"Xipp, Xeero and Xillch?" asked Sarah.

"Call them Alvin, Simon and Theodore for all I care. They took me to see Murdred and his stupid negafae. I didn't exactly agree with Murdred's proposal to join forces and give him the power to take over the world, so they locked me up in here. What about you?"

"Well, I was actually at home in Olympia. I was just sitting in my bedroom when those three adlets barged in through my window, dragged me into the countryside and brought me to into this Demon Domain to meet Murdred. It was scarier than any demon encounters that's for sure."

"Wait," said Seth. "Why would the adlets somehow emerge from a portal that lead them directly to a shadow charmer?"

"Did you not notice Murdred's evil eye?"

"Evil eye?" asked Seth.

"Maybe he didn't show it off to you," said Sarah. "But on Murdred's forehead is a powerful third eye. It supposedly has all sorts of powers. Murdred explained that he is able to detect the whereabouts of darkness with it, even in our own world."

"So after learning that _I_ was a shadow charmer, he must've suspected there may have been more out there and used his evil eye to sense your presence."

"You pretty much got it. Apparently, his evil eye was able to pinpoint my exact location, and the negafae were able to open a portal to that very spot, allowing the adlets to capture me rather easily."

As Seth absorbed Sarah's story, something hit him like a ton of bricks. The Sphinx! He too was a shadow charmer! Wouldn't Murdred be able to detect him as well? He didn't know what to say to Sarah on the matter. Was it right to have even told her everything he already had about Fablehaven? It had been referred to as a hidden preserve for a reason! But if the Sphinx were to be taken to Murdred, the man probably _would_ agree to his terms and allow him to take over the world! Right now, Seth just wanted to not dwell on that thought.

"I'm glad you had the decency to turn down his offer," said Seth. "There could've been others out there who would."

"How could I _not_ turn down his offer?" said Sarah, arms crossed. "Even if it wasn't for something inhuman, he spoke highly of you and only scoffed at me."

Seth rolled his eyes. "What exactly do you mean?"

Sarah turned her head away from Seth and closed her eyes. "He said... it was because I'm a girl."

Seth could feel as his heart skipped a beat. "So you're a girl. So what?"

"Murdred said that woman are weak. That we're inferior to men."

"Are you for real? That Murdred sounds an idiot with the mind of small child. I bet he thinks girls have cooties too. But believe me, some of the strongest, most valiant people I know are women. "

"Really?" asked Sarah, turning towards Seth, displaying a small smile on her face. "Like who?"

"Some of my friends, for starters. And then there's my sister. If she were here now with the right support, she'd show Murdred a thing or two."

"How so?"

"Well, unlike me, Kendra has fairy magic embodied within her, rather thank darkness like you and I."

"So, she's like you, but with fairy powers instead of dark powers?"

Seth let out a chuckle. "Hardly. She's a lot different than I am, even without factoring in light and darkness. She's more interested in reading than actually having fun. She's the Lisa Simpson to my Bart."

"I see," said Sarah, nodding in response. "I've got an older brother myself. He's already in university, thanks to a scholarship he earned on his own. If he also had fairy powers, I can't imagine the praise and admiration he'd be getting from my family for it."

"Tell me about it," said Seth. "If you've got dark powers, sometimes people think of you as a red-headed stepchild."

Sarah's jaw dropped, and she let out a smile. "Funny you should say that. My brother himself actually is a red-head. But he's no stepbrother, through."

"It's just a metaphor from the stupid olden days. Like how women are supposed to be weak. Doesn't make it correct or anything."

"I got the impression Murdred is stuck in the past," said Sarah. "Too bad there doesn't seem to be a plausible way to change his views."

"If changing his views were easy, I'd have convinced him already into letting me go."

Sarah nodded in agreement. "Oh, while I was up in Murdred's throne room, I found this." She hastily reached into her pocket and pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper.

"How'd you get that?" asked Seth, trying to discern what it was that Sarah even found.

"It was just lying on the floor, so I quickly snatched it up when Xipp tossed me down before Murdred."

"Don't you think Murdred's going to notice it's gone?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "There were literally dozens of papers like this one scattered all over the room. I didn't get a chance to see for myself, but they all looked pretty similar from what I could tell."

"I didn't notice any papers when _I_ was in the throne room."

"From what I could gather, Murdred was trying to capitalize on locating another shadow charmer when I was there, since he'd already found you."

"All right. What does it say?"

"I honestly have no clue," said Sarah, unfolding the paper and presenting it to Seth. "Think maybe you make heads or tail of it?"

Seth accepted the paper from Sarah. The moment the fabric touched his hands, Seth could sense that the note had actually been written down on an old piece of parchment. Taking a good look at the text that had been written on the paper, Seth could see for himself that it had been penned in an unfamiliar, alien alphabet.

"You've got me," said Seth, handing the paper back to Sarah. "No idea what this thing says. If we can earn Murdred's trust, you can ask him."

"Fat chance of that," said Sarah, pocketing the parchment. "He's not on my side. As long as I've been a shadow charmer, I've felt like nobody's been on my side."

"I know how you feel. I know I still have my family and friends, but sometimes, because I'm a shadow charmer, there's been times where I've felt I'm alone. Like there's nobody I can relate to."

"Seth," said Sarah, looking directly into his eyes. "At last now we have each other. Even if we don't survive this ordeal."

Seth didn't know what had come over him. He had only know Sarah for no more than ten minutes, but already, he could start feeling a connection between himself and her. She understood was it was like to be a shadow charmer. She knew what it was like to be different in the same way he was, and to not "fit in" at home.

Without saying anything, Seth, who felt like he was on the verge of crying, held out his arms and proceeded to give Sarah a hug.

"I'm so glad I found you," said Seth, embracing himself around Sarah's body, which was by far the greatest source of warmth in the entire dungeon.

"Same here," said Sarah, hugging Seth back. After a moment had passed, the two shadow charmers released themselves from each other's grasps.

"Let's make it official," said Seth, extending his hand. "Friends?"

"Friends," said Sarah, shaking his hand in response.

"If only we had a way out of here," said Seth. "Then we could actually make use of our friendship."

"I've got an idea. I tried to use my power to overwhelm the adlets, but I wasn't strong enough. But maybe, if we could combine our powers, it might be enough to do the trick."

"You think it'll work?"

"We might as well give it a shot. At this point, I don't see what we stand to lose. We can try it when the adlets come back. They said I'd get to eat something soon, so I assume they'll be back."

Only a few minutes had passed before the three adlets came tromping back into the dungeon.

"They're here!" gasped Sarah, as the adlets' footsteps made their way towards the cell.

"You sure you can do this?" asked Seth.

"Let's hope so," said Sarah, grabbing both of Seth's hands in her own. Seth felt a strange feeling coursing through his body, just as one of the adlets ordered for the door to open up.

The three adlets now stood in front of the doorway. In his hands, Xillch appeared to be holding a plate with a pizza on it.

"Is that for us?" asked Seth, as Sarah let go of his hands.

"Unfortunately," said Xipp. "Helwic doesn't ever conjure up pizza for us. She made us bring this to you two brats."

"At least that woman knows her place," said Xeero. "In the kitchen!"

The three adlets all guffawed in unison, prompting Xillch to drop the entire plate onto the floor.

"Enough!" blurted Sarah, as she raised her hands at the adlets. Seth could sense darkness emanating from Sarah's hands. At that moment, the three monsters all stopped laughing and stood still.

"What happened?" asked Seth.

"It worked!" said Sarah with a huge smile on her face. "I overpowered them with my shadow charmer abilities! Serves those jerks right! Now we can get out of here!"

"I never doubted your ability," said Seth, as he and Sarah walked up towards the doorway to the cell. "But, you did it!"

"With your help," said Sarah, patting Seth on his back. "But we need to get out of here."

Seth looked down at the pizza, which was laying topping-side down on the floor. "Man, I don't care if a negafae _did_ make that pizza. I was hungry."

"Let's just get out of here!" said Sarah.

At that moment a guard, whom Seth presumed was the sentry of the dungeon, walked over from the entrance. Somewhat humanoid in appearance, his head appeared to resemble that of a rhinoceros. "Hey, you brats should be in your cells!"

"It's okay," said Xipp, speaking monotonously. "They're with us. Go back to your post."

Seth looked over at Sarah and smiled. He got the impression that he was going to be enjoying this new-found friendship.


	11. Devious Deviants

**Chapter 11: Devious Deviants**

Seth and Sarah walked between Xipp, Xeero and Xillch, as the rhinoceros sentry escorted them all back to the entrance of the dungeon.

"I thought you three just came down here to bring the prisoners something to eat," said the sentry, giving each of the adlets a disconcerted look

"Orders from Lord Murdred himself," said Xeero, still speaking in a monotonous tone of voice. Seth turned his head towards Sarah, and saw that she appeared to be in a trance-like state. No doubt a consequence of using her shadow charmer power to overwhelm the adlets

"Lord Murdred feels that these guests are more deserving of better accommodations," said Xipp.

"Yeah, so just do your job, horn-head, and don't even _think_ of abandoning your post!" said Xillch.

"What about the pizza?" asked the sentry, pointing back towards the fallen entré.

"**You** clean it up!" blurted Xipp. "That's an order!"

Seth, Sarah and the adlets made their way up the stairs that sered as the entryway to the dungeon. Although the stairs had been designed for use by creautres larger than humans, the steps were not too massive to the point where Seth and Sarah were unable to leap up each and every one.

"Man, that was awesome," said Seth, once they reached the top of the stairs and emerged in a hallway, with the adlets standing directly behind them. "With your power, we could go up and overpower Murdred right now!"

Sarah shook her head. "Not happening."

"But, you took control of the adlets so easily!"

"What I'm doing right now is taking a lot of out of me. These adlets are rather simple-minded creatures, so they're pretty managable. Taking on Murdred or one of those negafae... That's a little out of my league."

"Sarah, you said that you don't live at Mythic Grove," said Seth. "Where do you get your magical milk from?"

"Oh. My parents keep butter in the fridge at home."

"Makes sense," said Seth. "I kinda take our milch cow for granted. So where do you propose we go from here?" Seth looked up and down the empty hallway. "As long as we've got the The Three Stooges on our side, the other monsters won't bother us."

"True," said Sarah. "But if Murdred, Helwic or Demoric spot us, they'll know something's up, and I don't have the power to counter them."

"We could escape from this castle, if nothing else."

"But Murdred could still sense our presence using his evil eye."

"Then what's to stop him from finding us, wherever we go?" asked Seth.

"I don't know. Murdred was able to pinpoint my exact location in the mortal world, and the adlets must've come through using a nearby portal."

"So no matter where we go," said Seth, we ultimately cannot escape.

"We may have a chance, _if_ we can get back to the mortal realm."

"But we'll need a portal to get back," said Seth. "And I'm pretty sure neither of us has the power to open one of those. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless my friends are still out there, searching for me," said Seth with a smile on his face.

"Those allies you mentioned?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah! They can use portals to travel between this world and our own. But I don't have the slightest clue as to where they are, how to find them, and if they're even still here!

"Well, we'd better get out of this stupid castle and start looking now!"

"But what if they're not there, or we get caught?"

"We'll have to chance it," said Sarah. "Come on."

Still controlling the adlets, Sarah had them guide Seth and herself towards the entryway to the castle. The moment they stepped outside The warthog sentry from earlier who had been standing guard earlier began to snarl at the group.

"Hey, where are you three going with those humans?" asked the sentry, crossing his arms.

Closing her eyes, Seth watched as Sarah used her powers to make Xipp, Xeero and Xillch all pounce upon the sentry, knocking him down onto the ground They then proceeded to start beating up on him.

"Cool!" said Seth.

"We'd better get out of here," said Sarah, as Xipp and Xeero proceeded to lift up the sentry and carry him over their heads. The adlets then marched inside with the sentry, and Xillch closed the door behind them.

"Come on!" said Sarah, as she began to run across the bridge that spanned over the moat. "My hold on the adlets won't last much longer!"

Following Sarah's lead, Seth scurried across the bridge as well. Worried that the adlets would come after him, Seth was running as fast as his legs could carry him. Once they had crossed the bridge, Seth looked around at the landscape. There was nothing but rugged, uneven terrain as far as the eye could see.

If they were lucky, there was the possibility that they could ultimately escape from the Demon Domain, so long as they managed to run across the unicorns. But where were they?

Riding upon Bracken, Kendra surveyed the landscape around her. There appeared to be no familiar landmarks for them to work with. Various points across the land had nothing to differentiate themselves from one another.

They were lost. A fair amount of time had passed since the incident with the gerbil monster and the serpent, but it felt as though the group had made absolutely no progess since then. If they had been walking around in circles or traversing new ground, none of them would be any the wiser.

Kendra looked over at Bright, who was carrying Warren upon her back. Both of them looked to be exhausted. Especially Bright.

"Are you two unicorns feeling okay?" asked Kendra.

"I've felt better," replied Bracken. "A lot better."

"We've been here way too long," said Warren. "Maybe we should just call it a day and head home?"

"But what about Seth?" asked Kendra. "We can't just give up on him. We're the only hope of rescue he has!"

"I commend your enthusiasm," said Bright. "But there's nothing more we can do. I'm sorry."

As the unicorns continued walking, Kendra could feel as Bracken's body began to shake rather abruptly.

"Bracken!" exclaimed Kendra. "What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know," said Bracken cautiously, as his entire body continued to wobble around.

"Me too!" cried Bright. Kendra looked over at the other unicorn and saw that she too was begining to shake around uncontrollably.

"Are you two okay?" asked Warren. "Stop. Both of you."

Bracken and Bright both came to a halt, as Warren got down off of Bright's back. He then placed his hand onto Bright's forehead and gently rubbed it around.

"I don't know what this is," said Bright.

"You _feel_ okay," said Warren.

"Oh no," said Bracken. "Kendra, get off me. Now."

Overcome with a feeling of turmoil, Kendra wasted no time in slipping down off of Bracken's back. "What's going on?"

"The darkness..." said Bright, squinting her eyes shut. "It's too strong! Bracken, you feel it too?"

"It's got us both!" exclaimed Bracken, who also seemed to be experiencing the same sensation.

"We need to get out of this place!" said Warren. "Right now! Open a portal immediately!"

"I... can't!" muttered Bright.

"Something's happening to me!" gasped Bracken, as his silvery-white fur slowly faded into a darker shade of gray. Looking over at Bright, Kendra could see that the mare was undergoing the same transformation.

"The darkness!" screamed Bright. "It's too much."

At this point, both Bracken and Bright's fur, manes and tails had turned entirely pitch black.

"Oh no," said Warren. "They're turning into... nightmares."

"Get away from us!" moaned Bracken, whose voice now sounded rather warbly.

"I won't leave you!" shouted Kendra.

"Now!"

"But..."

"It's too late," said Bright, as spikes sprout out like branches upon her darkened horn.

"Run, Kendra!" shrieked Warren. "Once they lose their sentience, they'll be true monsters!"

Not knowing what else to do, Kendra began to run off, following Warren's lead. She looked back at Bracken and Bright, watching as they writhed and squirmed while they underwent the last portion of their descents into nightmares.

"Warren. What are going to do?" asked Kendra.

"I don't know," said Warren. "We need to get away from them before they become proper nightmares."

After running away for roughly two acres, Kendra and Warren stopped once they reached the edge of a cliff. Looking downwards as they caught their breaths, they could see a steep drop to the lake of lava that was flowing at the bottom.

"We can't get away!" exclaimed Kendra. "It's a dead end!"

"They'll be nightmares any moment now," said Warren.

"We _have_ to help them!" cried Kendra, as Warren reached for the hilt of his sword.

"How do you propose we do _that_?"

"They need light energy! Maybe _that_ might counter their transformation."

"But neither of us have that power. Unless you can suddenly go fairyprime, it ain't happening."

Kendra looked back and saw that Bright and Bracken, who were presumably full nightmares, were galloping towards them, neighing malicously.

"No..." said Warren fearfully, his eyes fixated on the incoming nightmares.

"I know it's just us," said Kendra, "but I need your power to go fairyprime!"

"Are you crazy? I'm only fairystruck! I'm about as magical as a box of Lucky Charms!"

"Please, Warren! I know it might not even work, but it's our only hope!"

"I've never done this without any fairy angels," said Warren, as the two nightmares came closer, "but we _are_ desperate, so I'll try anything."

Standing by Kendra's side, Warren grabbed Kendra's left hand in both of his and closed his eyes. At that moment, Kendra could now feel a small amount of power flowing out of Warren and into her body. It wasn't nearly enough to unleash her true fairyprime form, but it was something.

The nightmares were now only several yards away from reaching Kendra at this point. Not knowing what else to do, Kendra held out her right palm at the two nightmares. She focused on conjuring up a rainbow. Instead, a faint beam of green energy shot out of her hand and collided into the nightares.

The nightmares slowed down at this point. Unable to differentiate between the two, Kendra aimed the beam back and forth between both of them. Beyond slowing their gallops to walking speed, the energy seemed to have no real effect on them.

"It's not enough," said Kendra. "They're too powerful!"

One of the nightmares shot a bolt of black energy from its horn at Kendra, knocking her onto her rear and causing her an Warren to let go of her hands and land next to her. Now less than fifteen feet away, the nightmares slowly approached Kendra and Warren.

"It didn't work," said Kendra, as Warren got up and drew his sword. "Warren! Stop!"

"I wasn't looking forward to this," said Warren, as he leapt away from one of the nightmare's energy bolts.

The other nightmare shot a bolt towards Kendra. Kendra backed away to avoid getting hit, but accidentally slipped off the edge of the cliff. Before she could plummet down, Kendra decked her body forward and grasped her hands onto the ledge, gripping as tightly as she could.

"Warren!" screamed Kendra, looking down at the boiling lava that was a good fifty feet beneath her. "Help!"

"Kendra!" blurted Warren, as he bent down, grabbed both of Kendra's hands and pulled her up onto the cliff.

Standing less than two feet in front of them were the nightmares. Worst of all, Warren had dropped his sword on the ground in order to help Kendra up the cliff. The two nightmares stood before them, like two cats looming over a pair of cornered mice, knowing full well that they had won by this point. Both of their spiny horns were emitting black auras.

"NO!" screamed Kendra, still holding onto Warren's hands. Her soul had been overcome with fear as the two nightmares prepared to make contact with her and Warren with their fatal touch.

Without warning, a huge blast of colorful light crashed into Bracken and Bright from behind Kendra, stopping the two nightmares just before they would've reached her and Warren. The light, which was glowing in a vivid array of colors, had stopped the nightmares dead in their tracks.

Kendra and Warren turned around and saw the source of the light show. Floating in middar were Brillia, Bravia and Brook in their unicorn forms, along with Clover, Tiara and Opal. The three unicorns were shooting spiralling rainbow beams from their horns at the two nightmares, while Clover, Tiara and Opal were expelling green, orange and purple blasts of energy respectively.

Unable to speak, Kendra and Warren watched in awe as the unicorns' and fairies' magic continously flowed from their horns and hands into the bodies of the two nightmares, who looked to be petrified from sheer power of all the light energy they were absorbing.

Before long, Bracken and Bright reverted back from nightmares into their proper unicorn forms. This regression prompted the other unicorns and fairy angels to put an end to their unleashed power.

Not knowing what to say, Kendra stepped forward and placed her hands on the restored foreheads of Bracken and Bright. "Are you two... okay?"

"Clover!" exclaimed Warren, looking back at their surprise group of supporters. "All of you. What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't bear the thought of you four heading out into the Demon Domain all on your own," said Clover, as she and the five keepers landed on the cliff next to Kendra and the others.

"Clover was worried about you," said Bravia. "After you four left Fablehaven, she travelled to the Fairy Kingdom and enlisted us for our help."

"It's a good thing too," said Warren, giving Clover a firm hug. "We would've been goners had you not gotten here."

"About that," said Bracken. "I am _so_ sorry. I just... lost control."

"Me too," sighed Bright. "I couldn't... control myself."

"It was the darkness of the Demon Domain," said Brillia. "You wouldn't have been at fault for your actions."

"But we nearly died!" exclaimed Warren.

"Had we not come to your rescue, all of you would've been doomed," said Brook.

"The important thing is that we're all okay," said Bracken. "Look, let's just get out of here now, before it's too late to save any of us."

"What about Seth?" asked Kendra, stomping her foot on the ground. "If we quit now, we'd just be abandoning him! Again!"

"So much for the cavalry," said Warren. "But Bracken's got a point. This whole expedition has been, regretably, nothing but danger and huge disappointment. We're never going to find Seth at this rate."

"Poor Seth," said Kendra. "I just feel so... worthless."

"You guys!" cried a familiar voice. "It can't be! It's really you?"

Everybody looked in the direction the voice had been coming from, and saw Seth running towards them, accompanied by Sarah.

"It's him!" cried Opal.

"I don't believe it!" gasped Tiara.

Seth ran over towards the rescue party as fast as his legs could carry him, his heart racing ferociously. Was this for real? For all he knew, this could've just been an elaborate trap set up by Demoric and Helwic as some sort of sick joke.

Likewise, Kendra wasn't sure if the boy running towards her was actually her brother, or just a monster in disguise. Trusting her gut, Kendra opened her arms as Seth charged towards her.

Seth continued running up towards Kendra and threw his arms around her shoulders the moment he approached her. Without a second thought, Kendra hugged Seth back in response.

Both Kendra and Seth were elated to be back together again. As much as they had fought and quarreled in the past, it meant nothing compared to the true love and admiration that they shared for one another.

"Seth," said Kendra, as she released her brother from her grasp. "What happened to you?"

"It's a long story," uttered Seth. "But I'm back thanks to..."

"Seth, who's this?" asked Bright, as she and her kin all crowded around Sarah.

"Sarah," said Seth. "I'm back thanks to Sarah over here."

Sarah made a nervous smile and held up her hand. The expression on her face made it seem like she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Uh, Seth," said Sarah. "Do you actually know all these fairies and unicorns?"

"Well, uh yeah," replied Seth nervously.

"Who exactly are you, Sarah?" asked Bracken, circling around the new girl, whist keeping a close on her. "I'm sensing something... _unusual_ about you.."

"I can explain that," stated Seth. "See, Sarah is a shadow charmer, just like I am. Also, we _are_ in the Demon Domain."

"Another shadow charmer?" questioned Clover.

"It's a long story," said Sarah.

"When we get back, I promise to explain everything!" exclaimed Seth.

"But we still need to defeat Murdred," said Bright.

"If we don't get out of this place soon, we're all doomed," said Brook.

"All right, let's just get out this accursed Demon Domain already," said Warren. "Can somebody please just open a portal back to our would some that we can all get out of here."

"When we get back, I promise to explain everything!" exclaimed Seth.

Bright then conjured up some energy within her horn and used it to open a portal that would lead everyone back to Fablehaven. Without even crossing over, he could feel the freedom that was awaiting him on the other side.

"Come on, Seth," said Kendra, as the group began to enter the portal one by one. "Let's go home."


	12. Darkness Doubled

**Chapter 12: Darkness Doubled**

As Seth and Kendra both passed through the portal, they were relieved as they watched the scenery around them shift from that of a volcanic wasteland to the tranquil, peaceful garden situated on the Fablehaven preserve.

Once every last human, fairy and unicorn had emerged from the portal on the Fablehaven side, Bright used the multicolored energy within her her to dispel the swirling gateway.

"There," said Bright, as she allowed herself to regress back into her fairy angel form, "Nobody from the Demon Domain will be able to follow us."

"Wow," said Sarah, looking around at her surroundings, her smile wide and open. "I haven't heard a lot about your preserve, but I've been told it's a sight to behold. To see it with my own eyes truly is a marvel."

"Seth," said Warren, cupping his hand around Seth's ear, "just what exactly have you _told_ this Sarah person?"

"Would you just relax?" asked Seth. "I know we've got a bit of explaining to do, but don't worry. I'm not _that _stupid."

"Is something wrong?" asked Sarah.

"With all due respect," said Warren, "we're not too keen on having guests showing up unannounced. But hey, as long as you're here anyway, you might as well come inside and meet the others."

"As long as our work here is done," said Brillia, who had also transformed back into a fairy angel, "I think it's time that my comrades and I headed back."

"I think we've got everything under control now," said Bright. "See you all later!"

Everybody the said goodbye to the five keepers, who flew off in the direction of the naiad's pond.

"Amazing," said Sarah, watching the five fairy angels flew off. "I've never seen any full-bodied fairies at my uncle's preserve.

"Your uncle _also_ has a preserve?" asked Kendra, as the group proceeded to walk back towards the house."

"Uh-huh. But all the fairies there are small. Come to think of it, you'd think there'd be more fairies near the house. I can't see any at all. And yes, I do have access to magical milk."

"Actually, here comes three," said Clover, as Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod flew up towards the group.

"You're back!" exclaimed Goldenrod, as she and the others fluttered around the group.

"Who's this sweet looking girl?" asked Larissa, as she flew up in front of Sarah's face, "she seems so... Dark!"

The blue fairy zipped away from Sarah and grabbed onto the hair that was growing down the back of Kendra's head.

"Larissa," said Kendra, who could feel that fairy was trembling in fear, "what's gotten into you?"

"She's not kidding!" said Passion, who along with Goldenrod, was cautiously floating towards Sarah with an outstretched hand, "this girl is emitting a high level of darkness!"

"Look, I understand," said Sarah. "The last time I was at my uncle's preserve, the fairies there didn't take too kindly to my presence."

"But what's wrong with her?" asked Goldenrod. "She's dark, just like Seth!"

"Where'd she even come from?" asked Passion.

By this point, the remainder of Kendra and Seth's family emerged from the house and came running up towards the group.

"Seth!" exclaimed Mrs. Sorenson, as she ran up to her son and gave him a firm hug. Oh my god, I'm so glad that you're back and safe."

"Thank you so much," said Mr. Sorenson, as he too hugged Seth. "All of you."

"Who is this?" asked Grandma, pointing towards Sarah.

"This is Sarah," said Seth.

"I'm grateful to see all of you back," said Grandpa. "But let's all head inside. There is much we need to discuss."

"Dinner will be ready soon," said Mr. Sorenson, as everybody, save for the three garden fairies, entered the house.

"It was crazy!" said Seth. "Both of us got captured and taken to see Murdred! But we got out, thanks to Sarah!"

"Murdred?" gasped Clover. "You met him?"

"Please, take a seat," said Grandpa, as everybody stepped into the living room. Seth made sure to sit down on a couch, next to Sarah.

"I think a couple of explanations are in order," said Bracken, arms crossed. Seth could see that virtually everybody had their eyes fixated on Sarah.

Sarah held up her hand and took a deep breath. "Hi, everyone! It's nice to meet all of you. My name is Sarah. Sarah Kelly. Seth and I have already met, but would you mind telling me your names?"

Everyone in the room introduced themselves to Sarah, going around in a circle.

Warren clasped his hands together. "Okay. We really need to address the elephant in the room. Sarah, how did you end up as a shadow charmer in the Demon Domain?"

"I guess an explanation is in order," replied Sarah. "I live in Olympia with my mother and father. I won't waste time with my life story, so I'll get straight to the point. My uncle is the caretaker at the Mythic Grove preserve."

"Ah, Mythic Grove," said Grandpa, nodding his head. "I'm not too familiar with the place, but I've heard that it possesses a unique beauty that no photograph can ever truly capture."

"As I was saying," continued Sarah, "every so often, we go to Mythic Acres to visit my uncle and aunt. Because we're very close with him, he felt that my family was trustworthy and let us in on the whole secret of magical creatures. As such, he provides my family with butter made from magical milk for my family to consume."

Grandpa raised his hand. "I see. But becoming a shadow charmer. How exactly did that end up happening?"

Sarah proceeded to tell everybody her story about how she befriended a centaur, who was actually the demoness Darqina in disguise, who tricked her into becoming a shadow charmer.

"You mean, you didn't even _want _to be a shadow charmer?" asked Bright.

"Of course not! And what good has it done for me? Ever since that awful day, the fairies at Mythic Acres began to fear me every time I returned to the preserve. They used to be my friends. Now they want nothing to do with me."

"That's awful," said Clover. "I really wish there was some way we could help. But we're at a loss of how could even help Seth."

"Well, how did you wind up a prisoner of Murdred's?" asked Grandpa.

"Murdred has these three adlets who work for him," replied Sarah.

"The same ones who captured me," noted Seth.

"Well, they passed through to this world from the Demon Domain, pinpointed my location and captured me. I found out that Murdred has a powerful eye which he can use to detect darkness in this world, which is how he sensed where I, a shadow charmer, was."

"You should be safe here," said Grandpa. "For the time being. The magic that governs this preserve should be powerful enough to block off any otherworldly sensors or portals."

"This Murdred," said Dale. "What exactly was he like?"

"He was pretty awful," said Seth.

"Very judgemental and callous," said Sarah. "He said I was weak because I'm a girl."

Grandma dropped her jaw. "Did he really?"

"Sounds a lot like Coulter," said Kendra, thinking back to how their late friend had refused to entrust Kendra with the same tasks as Seth, simply because he shared a similar opinion."

"Way worse than that," said Seth. "I mean, I didn't get that same treatment, naturally, because I'm a guy. But he seemed pretty domineering and aggressive. He wanted me to turn to the dark side so that he could harness my energy and increase his power."

"At least we're safe here now," said Sarah, placing her arm around Seth's shoulder. "Unless those adlets come back for us."

"I have reason to believe that those adlets cannot travel onto any preserve by means of any unauthorized portal."

"They wouldn't want to traipse onto a preserve like this one anyway," said Dale. "I've never worked with an adlet before, but I'm positive that three of them wouldn't stand a chance against all the creatures of a preserve like this one."

"Good," said Sarah with a relieved smile. "I never want to see that awful Murdred ever again!"

"I'm starting to wish I could be anybody else right now," said Seth.

"Why's that?" asked Sarah.

"I have a contractual agreement to fulfil. I _have_ to defeat Murdred. If I ultimately back out, _I'm_ the one who'll die."

Sarah squinted. "Look, I'm not exactly fond of Murdred myself, but I wouldn't go back into the Demon Domain just to kill him."

"It needs to be done," said Bracken. "Like it or not, Seth is obligated to hunt down Murdred and destroy him."

"If Murdred isn't stopped," said Bright, "then your life, Sarah, will still at risk the moment you leave this preserve."

"It's my fault you got into this whole mess," said Seth. "If I didn't have to go into the Demon Domain in the first place, I never would've been captured. And if I hadn't been captured, Murdred never would've guessed that there could've been another shadow charmer out there. Which means he wouldn't have sought you out."

"Seth," said Sarah. "You were just doing what you had to do. It's not your fault."

"Look, we'll try again," said Warren. "As long as we learn from our mistakes, they'll better prepare us for the next time we enter the Demon Domain."

"Killing Murdred shouldn't be too hard,' said Seth. "So long as we actually _find_ him. Without getting captured, I mean."

"Oh, that reminds me!" said Sarah, reaching into her pocket, "I found _this_ while I was being held captive at Murdred's castle."

Sarah removed the parchment that she had tucked into her pocket and unfurled it in front of the entire group.

"What is _that_?" asked Grandpa, as he and everybody else eyed the parchment that Sarah had revealed to them.

"I'm... not too sure. I can't decipher what's written on in it. I don't recognize the alphabet, but there's a good chance that it's not of this world."

"May I see it?" asked Kendra. "I possess the ability to decipher magical alphabets."

"Go ahead," said Sarah, presenting the parchment to Kendra.

Kendra looked down at the parchment and was able to read it, as the words that were on it appeared to be written in English. "Well, I can in fact read it."

"Hey, that text is Sylvian," said Bracken, looking over Kendra's shoulder.

"Sylvian?" asked Sarah.

"The native tongue of fairies," said Clover. "While, some of us has been enchanted to communicate in human languages, Sylvian is the one we were all raised on."

"What was something written in Sylvian doing in Murdred's castle in the Demon Domain?" asked Warren.

"Kendra, I hate to be the one to ask this of you," said Grandpa, "but do you mind typing out what's been written on that note?"

"Of course," said Kendra. "I can do it right now, if that's okay with all of you. The message doesn't seem to be terribly long."

"Go ahead and use my computer," said Mr. Sorenson. Kendra nodded, then got up from her seat, note in her hand and proceeded to to walk out of the living room and up to the second floor.

"Now then," said Grandpa, "Sarah, I feel that we've interrogated you long enough. I strongly recommend that you call your family."

Sarah's eyes widened. "You're right. Even with all the commotion that's been going on, I haven't actually been gone very long. So, I didn't think of calling them right away."

"You're welcome to use the phone in my study," said Grandpa. "Come on, I'll show you where it is."

"Great," said Sarah, as she and Grandpa both got out of their seats and Grandpa led her out of the living room.

"Where's Sarah going to go now?" asked Seth.

"Back home, I presume," said Grandma. "She needs to be with her family."

"But what about the adlets? If we send Sarah away, Murdred, the negafae and the adlets will..."

"Negafae?" gasped Bright.

"Yeah, there's these two negafae whom I guess you could say are kinda like Murdred's aides."

"Are they human sized?" asked Clover. "Like us?"

Seth nodded.

"Ho boy," uttered Bracken. "If they're full-sized, that means they've been granted incredible abilities, on par with those of a fairy angel."

"There's only two of them," said Seth. "I hope."

"In the Demon Domain?" asked Bright. "They'd have a major advantage against us."

Warren, Bracken and Bright then went on to tell Seth and the others as to how the two unicorns had ultimately succumbed to the darkness of the Demon Domain, became nightmares, and were only restored due to an overwhelming force of light energy.

"Man," said Seth, after absorbing all that information. "I had no idea. I guess if we go back to the Demon Domain, I won't exactly be able to count on you guys for backup."

"I don't know how we intend to use fairy magic in the Demon Domain," said Bracken. "We're at a complete disadvantage there. And weapons like swords. Or _guns_," he said as he eyed Warren, "will only go so far,"

A moment later, Grandpa and Sarah walked back into the living room.

"Okay," said Grandpa, as he sat back down in his seat. "I just got off the phone with Sarah's parents. We've decided to let Sarah stay here at Fablehaven for the time being."

"Really?" asked Seth, as Sarah down next to him again and high-fived her. "That's awesome!"

"Wait," said Clover. "What about the fairies? Having one shadow charmer around has already been problematic. A second one will only worsen things. No offence, Sarah."

"To be frank, Clover," said Grandpa. "As long as there aren't any fairies in the area., having a second shadow charmer on the property shouldn't be problematic for either side, so long as the two parties don't cross paths with one another."

"I don't exactly want to be here forever," said Sarah. "The way I see it, if you can find a way to defeat Murdred, you might even be able to stop his negafae. They're the ones who provide him and his adlets with access to our world."

"Well, I'm open to suggestions," said Seth, as Kendra came rushing down the stairs, holding a piece of printed paper in her hand.

"This is incredible," said Kendra, as she made her way into the living room and sat down.

"What's incredible?" asked Seth.

"Well, I translated that parchment. And according to it, there's a relic out there called the Necromaster."

"Necromaster?" asked Grandpa. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"What's the big deal?" asked Seth. "What's a _Necromaster_, and what does it do?"

"It's some sort of mystic object that possesses the power to kill anything almost effortlessly," said Kendra, passing the note over to Warren for him to read.

"Kill anything?" asked Grandma. "I can understand why Murdred would have information on such a thing, but would it be written in Sylvian?"

"Can negafae even _read_ Sylvian?" asked Seth. "I don't care what they said, they just seemed like dark fairies to me."

"I'm guessing _not_," said Sarah. "Or else they would've _done something_ with that note."

"I don't know where this thing came from," said Warren, passing the parchment over to Grandpa. "But no wonder Murdred would've been interested in it. If he had the Necromaster in his arsenal, he'd be virtually unstoppable."

"If this thing _was _written in Sylvian," said Kendra, "my question is, why? Why would fairies have any desire to ever own, let alone create, such a devastating tool?"

"Well, the note didn't really go into much detail," said Grandpa, passing the note over to Seth.

"It did talk about where the Necromaster had been hidden away," said Kendra.

"Where?" asked Sarah, eyeing the note that Seth was currently reading.

"Underneath Lake Superior," replied Seth. "Inside a vault known as the Floodmaze. Hey, you think if we had this Necromaster, we could use it to kill Murdred?"

"I don't know," replied Bracken. "If it's a magical object, it might not even work in the Demon Domain."

"Not necessarily," said Kendra. "According to the note, the Necromaster is a relic from the Demon Domain."

"So, if we had this Necromaster, we could use it to get the drop on Murdred!" said Seth. "We'd take a hold of what Murdred wanted so badly in the first place and use it against him!"

"I'm all for it," said Sarah. "The sooner we stop that horrible Murdred, the better!"

Bracken blew a loud whistle using his fingers. "Now hold on a moment. The only reason we've messed up in the Demon Domain is because we either don't know what we're doing, or where we're supposed to be going. Even if we had this Necromaster, we'd still be lost."

"What are you proposing?" asked Kendra.

"That we do not make any effort towards recovering this Necromaster. It sounds incredibly dangerous, and it would not be of much use to us. What we need to do is find a method of reaching Murdred once we go back to the Demon Domain. The Necromaster, just because Murdred is so intent in getting his claws on it, is not something we need to concern ourselves with. I'd feel safer knowing that it's locked up in a vault rather than in our collection."

"Well, dinner's almost ready," said Mrs. Sorenson, as she got up from her seat. "Sarah, we've always got plenty of food, so you're welcome to join us."

"Thank you, Mrs. Sorenson," said Sarah.

"Oh, and Sarah," said Grandpa, "we have a guest bedroom on the second floor that you can use while you're staying here. We'll show it to you after dinner."

"Great!" said Sarah. "As much as I want to go home, I'm grateful that you're willing to accommodate me."

"Hey," said Seth with a grin. "What are friends for?"


	13. See No Good

**Chapter 13: See No Good**

The family ate dinner in the dining room that night as they usually did. They were joined by Sarah, who, beyond being an accidental shadow charmer, turned out to be very friendly. Now that they were not dealing with fairies, demons, or anything correlating to the world of magic, Sarah seemed to be very down to Earth, so long as the conversation stayed casual. Sarah did ask Clover a few questions about her life as a fairy angel, but beyond that, things stayed relatively normal.

After a very fulfilling tortellini dinner, Seth led Sarah up to the second floor, showing her to the guest bedroom where she would currently be staying.

"This is great," said Sarah, as she plopped herself down onto the freshly made bed.

"Look, if you need anything," said Seth, "Toothbrush. Towels. Fresh clothes. Whatever. Just ask!"

"Seth," said Sarah, patting down on the bed next to herself. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," said Seth, accepting Sarah's offer as he sat down next to her.

"After we stop Murdred... There's going to be no need for me to stay here at Fablehaven. Which is fine. I mean... I need to go home to my family at some point... So..."

"Go on..."

"Well, I don't live on a preserve like you do. "I don't have much involvement with the magical world. And now that I'm a shadow charmer with flourishing powers, I don't have anyone I can relate to."

"What are you talking about?" asked Seth. "I'm right here."

"That's the problem. I live on the other side of the country. Once this whole ordeal is over with, I'll have no reason to stay here..."

Sarah then placed her hand on Seth's shoulder.

"Look, there's still ways for us to keep in touch," said Seth. "Messaging, internet, even snail mail."

"I know," said Sarah. "I just wish there was some sort of... cure for this whole shadow charmer situation. I feel like I don't belong anywhere now that I've been, well... cursed."

"Same here," said Seth. "But consider the fact that you don't live on a preserve a good thing. The fairies on this one have taken a real disliking to me lately. Sure, my family offers me moral support and all that, but so far, you're the only one who actually _gets_ it"

Seth patted Sarah on the back. "I'm gonna go wash up and probably get ready for bed. I've had a long day. Tomorrow we've got to get up and going to the Demon Domain bright and early. The longer I spend not going after Murdred, the more it looks like I'm not interested in doing so."

"I'm fairly tired myself," said Sarah, "even though it's not late. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night, Sarah," said Seth walked out of the guest bedroom and closed the door behind him. Grandma was presumably still downstairs.

"Seth," said Grandpa, who was standing in the doorway to his bedroom, "may I speak to you for a moment?"

"Sure," said Seth, as he walked up to where his grandfather was standing.

"Come in for a second. I'd like to ask you something."

Seth followed Grandpa into his bedroom. Grandpa then gestured for Seth to sit down in an armchair in the corner of the room, so he did. Grandpa chose to remain standing.

"This whole Necromaster thing," asked Grandpa. "What do you think about it?"

"It sounds like it could be useful," said Seth. "Extremely dangerous if we're not careful with it. But still useful.

"There's a lot we don't know about it. Except that it was created in the Demon Domain, has the power to kill anything, and is hidden in a vault underneath Lake Superior."

"I don't get it. If this object is from the Demon Domain, then what's it doing in a vault in the mortal world? And why was that note written in Sylvian?"

"If I were to harbor a guess," replied Grandpa, "the fairies somehow found out about the Necromaster and confiscated it from the demons who originally possessed it."

"Why would demons even _need_ something like the Necromaster? They seem powerful enough to me already."

"I'm afraid I wouldn't understand their true intentions," said Grandpa. "Perhaps their power can only go so far. Nevertheless, this Necromaster still intrigues me. Perhaps after this whole Murdred ordeal is over with, you and the others might consider recovering the Necromaster, so that we can study and better understand it."

"I suppose," said Seth. "Assuming I can come out of this Murdred thing alive. Grandpa, I've got something to ask you. What do you think about Sarah?"

"She did seem a bit cautious" said Grandpa. "But then again, I think she was probably just nervous in front of so many new places. After all, she had just been held prisoner in the Demon Domain, had she not? To be honest, she's not all that far off from you. You should give her a chance, because at some point, she'll have to go back home, and that opportunity will be lost."

"I understand," said Seth.

"Also, it might be best if Sarah travels with you back to the Demon Domain. As a shadow charmer like yourself, her power combined with yours would give yourself and edge that no amount of fairies could ever provide. I realize that there's a risk, but I spoke with her parents about the situation, and they ultimately decided that coming along on this mission might be the greatest opportunity to ever come along for her."

"I understand," said Seth, getting up from the chair. "I guess I'll see you in them morning."

"Goodnight, Seth," said Grandpa, as Seth walked over towards the door.

The following morning, Seth woke up and headed downstairs to the dining room, where the rest of his family, as well as Sarah, were eating breakfast.

Sarah was sitting next to Kendra. Apparently, they were discussing the courses that Sarah was currently taking at school.

"I feel like there's so much that I'm missing," said Kendra, "now that I'm being homeschooled. I mean, I'm still learning, but there isn't much opportunity for drama."

"I try my hardest," said Mrs. Sorenson, "but when you only have two students at different academic levels, there isn't a whole lot I can do to emulate a proper social curriculum."

"Sounds like you two get off easy," said Sarah, taking a sip of orange juice from her glass.

"Yeah, it is easier than regular school," said Seth, taking the seat next to Sarah.

"You'd all better eat up," said Grandpa, who was sitting in his chair at one end of the table. "You've got a big day ahead of you."

"Who's ready for Grandma Ruth's homemade pancakes?" asked Grandma, as she walked into the dining room from the kitchen, carrying a tray with a large stack of piping hot pancakes, which she placed down on the center of the table.

"I was born ready," said Warren, holding up a fork, "but Sarah, you're our guest. You help yourself first."

"Oh... thanks," said Sarah, who took a moment to shift her view from Warren to the pancakes. "I've never tried these before."

"You've never had pancakes?" asked Seth.

Sarah laughed. "Not this recipe, of course," she said, as she took two pancakes from the tray with her fork. She then poured some maple syrup on them and took a bite. "Hey, these are pretty good!"

After eating breakfast, the group had made their final preparations before getting ready to head out to the Demon Domain. Before long, they had all gathered around outside on the front lawn.

"This preserve looks amazing," said Sarah, smiling as she gazed at the landscape around her.

"I'd love to give you a full tour," said Dale. "But, now's not the time. Maybe after Murdred is dealt with."

"Oh, Sarah," said Bright, producing a small bracelet in her hand. "This is for you. Straight from the Fairy Kingdom."

"What is it?" asked Sarah, accepting the bracelet from Bright. Seth and Kendra were quick to recognize what it was.

"This bracelet will suppress your dark energy, so we can use magic on you."

"I've got one too," said Seth, showing off the bracelet he normally wore upon his wrist.

"Really?" asked Sarah, slipping on her new bracelet. "That's great! I just hope it works."

"So, what exactly is the plan?" asked Kendra, holding up her hand.

Warren took in a deep breath. "I must confess. We don't really have much in the way of a plan. I mean, I came up with a theory on what we can do. It should help, but it won't make getting to Murdred any easier.

"What exactly is your theory?" asked Seth.

"Whenever we venture into the Demon Domain, we always get spotted. So I thought maybe we should just make ourselves invisible before going in. I know I shot down the idea before, but the unicorns should be able to sense themselves telepathically. Isn't that right?"

"Should work," said Bright. "Even in the Demon Domain. But we need to try to stay together. And if we're going to be invisible, it's going to be extra difficult."

"Still, this sounds like the soundest plan we've had so far," noted Bracken.

"Third time's a charm," said Warren. "Kendra, I want you and Seth to ride together on Bracken. "Sarah, you and I will be riding on Bright."

"Okay," said Sarah.

"Is everybody ready?" asked Warren, slinging his bag onto his back. His comrades all gave a positive response. "Okay, let's do this!"

"First, we'll transform ourselves into unicorns," said Bracken, as he and Bright proceeded to shift into their four-legged equine bodies.

"Amazing," said Sarah. "It's not everyday that I get to see unicorns. Even at Mythic Grove."

"Come on," said Warren, as he helped Sarah climb up onto Bright's backside. "You can even sit in the front."

"I love your rainbow mane," said Sarah, fondling a section of Bright's mane with her fingers.

Before long, Kendra, Seth and Warren had all gotten onto the backs of their designated unicorns.

"Can we come too?" asked Passion, who, along with Larissa and Goldenrod, had flown up to Kendra.

"Of course not," said Kendra. "You have any idea how dangerous this whole thing will be?"

"And you fairies are solely lacking the power needed to handle a place like the Demon Domain. I understand your desire to help, but don't up and sacrifice yourselves like this."

"We haven't had much to do since we got here," said Larissa. "It's just been Murdred this... Demon Domain that."

"And all the other fairies are confined to the naiad's pond," said Goldenrod. "This garden got boring fast."

"We just want to help," said Passion.

"I'm sorry," said Bright. "But the answer is no."

The three minor fairies flew off.

"I hate to do this to them," said Bracken, "but it's for their own good. It wouldn't matter if a _thousand_ fairies went into the Demon Domain. They'd all be just as vulnerable as two."

"Now, when you say turn invisible..." said Sarah. "Are we just going to make ourselves undetectable to the demons or something?"

"Not just that," said Clover. "But real invisibility. You'll be completely transparent. First, I'll cast a distractor spell to keep demons away from you all."

Clover waved her hands around, sprinkling green sparkles all around the two unicorns and their four riders.

"You sure this'll work?" asked Seth.

"It worked last time," said Bright.

"And now, here comes the fun part," said Clover. Once again, she conjured up a wave a glimmering green sparkles, which rained down on the group before her.

Kendra and Seth both looked around at themselves, as well as Bracken, Bright, Warren and Sarah. They watched as their bodies all seemingly faded out of existence. Despite not being able to see one another, they could still sense where they were.

"Amazing," said Sarah, whose voice was coming from nearby. Although she was presumably still upon Bright with Warren, Kendra and Seth were unable to detect their presence.

"Okay," said Bracken. "I can sense Bright."

"Right back at you," replied the other unicorn.

"This is really strange," said Seth. "How are we supposed to tell where we are?"

"You don't have to," replied Warren. "We're just going to remain on the unicorns until they get us to our destination. Once we're good and ready, they'll make us visible again."

"It figures," said Sarah, "I actually get to become invisible, and I don't get to have any fun with it."

"At least you're being optimistic," said Warren. "I don't see anything _fun_ about paying another visit to the Demon Domain."

"If everybody is ready," said Clover, "I'll open a portal."

"We're good," said Bracken.

"Here goes," said Clover, as she used her magic to open up a portal. Swirling before everybody, this new portal would no doubt lead to an unknown area within the Demon Domain.

"Well," this is it," said Bright.

"Please, be careful this time," said Clover. "And Bright and Bracken, please don't allow yourselves to become nightmares again."

"Believe me," said Bracken. "We've learned our lesson."

"Goodbye, Clover!" said Kendra.

"We'll be back," said Warren.

At this point, Bracken began walking towards the portal. Once he approached it, he proceeded to step through.

Bracken, Kendra and Seth emerged somewhere in the Demon Domain as they stepped out from the other side of the portal.

"Where are we now?" asked Kendra, gazing around at her surroundings. From what she could tell, they were now on standing on the floor of a deep chasm. Higher than it was wide, it appeared to be no more than thirty feet across.

"You guys here too?" asked Sarah.

"Yup," said Bracken. Kendra watched as the portal closed behind them, presumably due to Clover's influence back at Fablehaven.

"What is this place?" said Seth.

"If we stumble upon a map at some point, you can consult it," said Warren.

"I guess we should just press forward," said Bright.

The two unicorns proceeded to walk down the chasm, trying to keep as silent as they were invisible.

"So far, so good," whispered Bracken, a few minutes into the walk. "We're all still here, and nobody's the wiser."

The unicorns continued walking down the chasm, but were caught off guard by a loud rattling noise coming from the rear.

"Bright," said Warren, "Bracken. Move to one of the walls. Now."

Kendra and Seth witnessed as Bracken trotted up towards a wall of the chasm, just as the rattling noise got closer. They then looked back, and saw a massive, quadrupedal skeleton of some nature stampeding through the chasm towards them, causing the ground to vibrate. The skeleton, which was over twenty feet tall and resembled a buffalo in facial structure, charged up towards where the group was, then came to a screeching halt and began sniffing around.

Did the skeleton sense them? Seth looked up at the monster. It reminded him of the wooly mammoth skeleton he had seen at the museum, only with horns rather than tusks, and was a lot larger, barely able to turn around within the chasm. Either way, he did not want to mess around with it using his shadow powers, and wouldn't blame Sarah for thinking the same way.

After sniffing around for a moment, the skeleton stopped, then proceeded to run further down the chasm.

"I think we should get out of here," said Bracken. "Even if it means flying."

"We might be safe," said Kendra. "Since that skeleton didn't actually spot us."

"Are skeletons even supposed to have olfactory perception?" asked Warren. "How's he supposed to _smell_ anything?"

"Well, if he comes back for us, we're out of here," said Bright.

"I guess we're safe, then," said Sarah.

The group continued down the chasm, still remaining invisible, for several more minutes.

"I don't know what's wrong," said Bright.

"What's the matter?" asked Kendra.

"I feel... weak."

"Me too," said Bracken. "We're using magic to sense each other, but it shouldn't leave us feeling so drained."

"Are you two okay?" asked Warren.

"I feel like someone's knocked the wind out of me," replied Bracken. "It can't just be us sensing each other and the invisibility."

Kendra and Seth looked up ahead and saw three figures jump from the top of the chasm down to the floor. It was Xipp, Xeero and Xillch, and they were only a few acres away.

"Where'd _they_ come from?" asked Kendra in a whisper.

"I hope they can't sense us," whispered Seth.

"Or hear us," said Sarah.

"Or smell us," added Warren.

The three adlets, down on all fours, scurried towards the group, using their sense of smell to guide them.

"They're here somewhere," said Xipp.

The adlets now only a few feet away from the group, Kendra and Seth watched as they all somehow reappeared, right in front of the adlets, startling them.

"Bracken!" cried Seth. "What's going on?"

"Hey geniuses," said Xillch. "If you want to sneak around the Demon Domain so badly, try _not_ to give yourselves away!"

"Are you guys trying to get to Murdred?" asked Xeero. "We'll take you there on the double!"

"Get away from us!" huffed Bright, as Warren wielded his sword.

"Are we supposed to be afraid?" asked Xipp.

"Now, Bright!" yelled Bracken, as he shot a blast of rainbow energy spiralling out from his horn at the three adlets. Bright joined in as well, shooting her own blast of energy at the adlets, causing them to all scream in pain.

After only a few seconds had passed, Bracken and Bright ceased their magic attacks. They then transformed back into their fairy forms. As their riders were still on their backs, Kendra, Seth, Warren and Sarah all caused Bracken and Bright to fall face first to the ground, while still seated.

"Ow..." moaned Bracken.

"Giving up so soon?" asked Xillch, as Xipp grabbed Sarah and Xeero lifted Seth up off of Bracken.

"Put them down," snarled Warren, getting up from off of Bright, flailing his sword.

"Why should we stick around and fight?" asked Xillch, as Xipp and Xeero slung Sarah and Seth over their shoulders and proceeded to climb up the wall of the canyon. "We got what we came for, and you don't have the power to follow us! Thanks for bringing those two back for us, though!"

Xillch laughed as he followed Xipp and Xeero up and over one of the chasm walls. Kendra and Warren looked down at Bracken and Bright. Both of the fairies looked quite flush. What had happened to them so suddenly?

"Bracken?" said Kendra. "Bright? Are you two okay?"

"No," said Bright, shaking her head. "We're not feeling well at all."


	14. Contrary Fairies

**Chapter 14: Contrary Fairies**

Standing at the bottom of the dreary chasm within the depths of the Demon Domain, Kendra looked down at Bracken. The poor fairy prince was laying on the ground, stomach side down, breathing wearily.

"Bracken," said Kendra, running her hand through Bracken's glistening white hair. "Bracken. Please, get up."

"I... I can't, muttered Bracken.

"Bright!" cried Warren, who was down on his knees by the other fairy's side. Kendra could see that he was also making a similar effort to try and help Bright get back on her feet.

"What's wrong with you two?" asked Kendra, rubbing Bracken on his shoulder. "You need to get up! Both of you!"

"Something's wrong," gasped Bright, as Warren held her hand. "We came in here only minutes ago at full strength, but now, it feels like all our power is gone!"

"Almost like something _forced_ it to drain," said Warren, picking up Seth and Sarah's dropped bags. "Looks like these got left behind."

"Look, let's just get out of here now!" said Kendra. "Or you'll be too weak to do anything!"

"I don't think I _can_ do anything now," uttered Bracken, climbing up onto his knees, using Kendra's own body as a means of support.

"You've got to open a portal," said Warren. "Only one of you needs to do so. Transfer your power to the other if that's what it takes."

Bracken and Bright both stood up, then proceeded to walk towards each other, albeit rather woozily. The two of them then held hands and closed their eyes.

"It's no good!" gasped Bright. "We barely have any light energy in us as it is."

Bracken shook his head. "NO! I will _not_ become a nightmare again!"

"Warren," said Kendra, "what are we supposed to do?"

"If they turn into nightmares again..." said Warren,"I'm starting to wish _I_ was in Seth's shoes right about now."

"Please!" exclaimed Kendra. "Pull together, you two. If we don't escape _now_, we're all doomed!"

"We don't have the power required to open a portal," said Bright. "We're sorry!"

"Can we help?" asked a tiny voice.

Kendra turned around and saw Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod fluttering behind her. Everyone was dumbstruck to see the three fairies appearing in the Demon Domain."

"You three?" asked Kendra.

"Uh, you need our help, yes?" asked Passion.

"I don't know why you're here," said Warren, "but yes. Help us or we'll all go down."

Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod all flew over towards Bracken and unleashed a rain of red, blue and yellow sparkles onto his body. A moment later, Bracken smiled and let out a sigh.

The three fairies, who had clearly exhausted their power by helping Bracken, slowly drifted downwards. Warren held out his arms and caught them in midair.

"Thanks!" said Bracken, wasting no time in using his power to open up a portal before the group.

"Come on," said Warren to Kendra and Bright, still holding the three weary fairies in his arms.

Bracken passed through the portal, followed by Warren. Kendra then stepped through the portal along with Bright.

When they emerged on the other side, Kendra was caught by surprise to learn that they had not emerged on the lawn at Fablehaven. Instead, Kendra splashed down a foot or so, landing in a vast body of cold water which gave her quite a shock.

Lacking the foresight to have held her breath, Kendra quickly surfaced, sucking in huge amount of oxygen. "Bracken!" gasped Kendra, attempting to tread water against a series of small waves. " What's going on?"

"Yeah," said Warren, spitting out some excess water that had flowed into his mouth. "Where in the world are we?"

"I don't... know," answered Bracken, sounding confused.

"Are Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod all right?" asked Bright.

"I've got them," said Warren, indicating that he was still holding the trio of fairies in his arm, trying to keep their heads above the surface.

"I better close this," said Bracken, raising his hand out of the water and using his power to dispel the portal that was floating no more than two feet above the surface of the water.

"Bracken, what are we doing here?"

"I must've not focused properly when conjuring up that escape portal. We're back in the mortal world, but I have no idea where."

"Seventy percent of the Earth's surface is covered in water," said Warren. "If we had to land somewhere, I'm not surprised it was in the middle of an ocean."

"Middle of an ocean?" exclaimed Bright. "We need to get out of here!"

"But, how?" asked Kendra. "You fairies are weak for some reason.

"I like to be prepared, so I've got the Translocator," said Warren. "But bringing it to the Demon Domain no doubt drained its power."

"Let me try restoring it," said Kendra.

Warren reached into his soaking bag and pulled out the Translocator. "Work your magic, Kendra."

Kendra placed her hand onto the artifact and felt as energy flowed through her arm and into the Translocator. "I think that did it."

"Please work," said Warren, as he, Bracken and Bright all placed a hand on the Translocator. Using his other arm, Warren set Passion Larissa and Goldenrod directly on top of the artifact. He then attempted to twist the Translocator.

"Kinda hard to work this thing when its all wet," said Warren, before successfully twisting the Translocator into working order. A moment later, the entire group found themselves being whisked out of the water and transported far away.

A moment later, Kendra opened her eyes and saw that she was no standing on the front lawn of Fablehaven, surrounded by Warren and the five fairies. Her clothes sopping wet, Kendra let go of the Translocator and proceeded to wring some out excess water out of her sleeve.

"We made it," said Bright.

"But Seth," said Kendra. "He's still back in the Demon Domain. Xipp, Xeero and Xillch have him. And Sarah too!"

"There was nothing we could do," said Bracken. "I'm sorry."

"Sarah's parents are going to kill us," said Warren.

"If mine don't already," noted Kendra.

The front door to the house opened up. Grandpa, Grandma, Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson all stepped out through the doorway and onto the porch.

"What happened to everybody?" asked Grandpa. "Where are Seth? And Sarah?"

"They got captured," answered Bright.

"Not _again_!" moaned Mr. Sorenson, placing a hand to his forehead.

"How could you let this happen?" asked Mrs. Sorenson, giving her husband a hug.

"We don't understand!" blurted Bright. "Bracken and I lost our power almost immediately after entering the Demon Domain. "Then the adlets came out of nowhere, nabbed Seth and Sarah and high-tailed it out of the area."

"Well, how come all of you are all drenched?" asked Grandma.

"We missed a left turn at Albuquerque," said Warren. "Soaking or not, I'm just grateful we were able to get back here at all."

"And you three," said Grandpa, pointing at Passion, Larissa and Clover, "I can by your soaked bodies that you tagged along uninvited."

"Let's not be too rash," said Bracken. "We've got a larger crisis on our hands already."

"This is horrible," said Mrs. Sorenson, shaking her head in disbelief. By this point, Clover, Dale, Raxtus, Geminus and several reindeer had approached the group.

"Look, we really need to freshen up," said Bright. "We're dripping in salt water, and Bracken and I are dangerously low in light energy."

"What Bright means is," stated Clover, "is that she and Bracken need to go back to the naiad's pond, freshen themselves up and be rejuvenated."

"Kendra, you and Warren could both use a shower and a fresh set of clothes," said Grandma.

"No kidding," said Warren.

"Why don't you both head upstairs and wash up? Warren, you're welcome to use Stan's and my ensuite, rather than having to go back and forth between your cabin."

"Thanks," said Warren.

"Dasher, Cupid," said Dale, making a hand gesture at two of the reindeer. "I want you to take Bracken, Bright and the other fairies down to the naiad's pond."

The two reindeer trotted over to the group. Bracken and Bright each climbed on top one of them, while Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod clung onto Bracken's shirt.

As Dasher and Cupid trotted off towards the pond, Kendra and Warren headed inside the house. Kendra looked down at the carpet in the entry hall, and saw that water was still dripping down from her hand and onto it.

"Don't worry about the water," said Grandma, who was standing behind them. "It's more important that you just wash up already.

Seeing that Warren had begun taking off his boots and soaked socks, Kendra followed his inspiration and took her footwear off as well, leaving her barefoot.

Kendra scurried up the stairs with Warren by her side. In her mind, she commended Warren for the idea to go barefoot, since she hated the feeling of walking around with drenched socks, which happened the odd time she stepped in a deep puddle.

Kendra made her way into the bathroom, while Warren continued down the hall to Grandma and Grandpa's room. Now alone, Kendra tossed off her clothes, stepped into the shower stall and turned on the hot water.

The warm shower was the most refreshing thing Kendra had experienced all day. Even though she had already showered before heading out into the Demon Domain, it was this second one she was far more appreciative of.

Once Kendra was fully washed up, she wrapped a towel around herself and made her way up to her bedroom in the attic, where she changed into a fresh set of clothes. Afterwards, Kendra headed downstairs and met up with the others who were all waiting for her in the living room.

"Thanks for bringing me a change of clothes, Clover," said Warren, patting his wife, who was seated next to him, on her shoulder. He was indeed wearing a fresh set of clothes, as were Bracken and Bright.

"I don't know how to say this," said Grandpa, "but things just keep getting worse,"

"What happened?" asked Mrs. Sorenson. "And why so fast this time, too?"

Kendra, Warren, Bright and Bracken all relayed their most recent misadventure to everybody in the room.

"Bright and Bracken, you two lost your energy _that_ quickly?"

"It doesn't make any sense," said Bracken. "There's no plausible reason for us to have lost our power so abruptly."

"At least we were able to ward off the three adlets," noted Bright. "But once they were dealt with, we didn't even have the power within us to open up a portal to get out of the Demon Domain."

"Lucky for us, Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod showed up," said Warren. "Without them, we never would've gotten back."

"About that," said Grandpa, clenching his fingers together. "Why exactly were they with you?"

"We don't know," replied Bright. "They begged us to come along to the Demon Domain. And even though we said know, they heeded our demands and and followed along anyway. Although we're disappointed to learn that they were being irresponsible, we're also grateful that they _were_ there to bail us out."

"Let's worry about what the three fairies did later," said Grandma. "Although I would like to know, how is it that you and Bracken lost your energy so quickly, while Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod retained theirs?"

"A few theories," replied Bracken. "One is that spells we used to conceal ourselves while in the Demon Domain were losing an excessive amount of energy due to being in a world that they cannot withstand. As such, the spells drew too much energy from Bright and myself, depleting our powers far sooner than expected.

"But you used the distractor spell the last time," said Clover, "and you stayed in the Demon Domain for significantly longer then, too."

"Another theory is that it could've been that large skeleton monster that neared us in the chasm," said Warren. "It could've had some influence instead of the spells, or possibly in addition to them."

"I think it might've be Sarah," said Bright. "Not on purpose, though. But we don't know her very well. Or the extent of her power. Combined with Seth, the two of them may have been radiating an excessive amount of darkness."

"Possibly," said Mr. Sorenson. "But, aren't the two of them wearing those bracelets that suppress their darkness?"

"They were," replied Bracken. "But, you need to remember that Seth's power grew too strong for his bracelet."

"Of course," said Warren. "That's why the fairies went rogue on him the other day by turning him into a one-man zoo. But, Brillia restored its power just recently. And Sarah's was brand new. When we went into the Demon Domain, she was wearing it for the very first time."

"Perhaps the Demon Domain is too strong for the bracelets altogether," said Grandpa.

Kendra shook her head slowly. "Maybe we're going about this whole thing the wrong way. Seems like every time we enter the Demon Domain, we get targeted, and the unicorns end up losing their energy somehow. On top of that, both of the times I went to the Demon Domain, the group got bailed out by another party of fairies who weren't even invited to come along."

"It's a good thing, too," said Warren. "Or we wouldn't be alive right now."

"It's obvious that we need to be using a better plan right now," said Grandpa, rubbing his chin. "Blindly running into the Demon Domain, not knowing where to go, is only going to continue get you lost, if not killed."

"And not only that," said Bracken, "but as long as Bright and I need to rely on light energy, in a world sustained by darkness, some of those monsters there will always have a great advantage over us."

"Our weapons are only so strong," said Warren. "And if you and Bright rely on your magic too much, it could result in us losing our trip home."

"So, what should we do?" asked Kendra.

"I was thinking," said Grandpa, "it may be unorthodox, but perhaps that Necromaster thing might help you. If it really is from the Demon Domain, I have reason to believe it should work in that realm."

"It would work a lot better than relying on fairy magic," said Warren. "If we had it, we'd be fighting fire with... um... better fire."

"That Necromaster sounds dangerous," said Bracken. "But as much as it goes against fairy honor, _dangeous_ may be just the thing we need to conquer the Demon Domain."

"So Grandpa," said Kendra, "you're proposing that instead of returning to the Demon Domain again, we instead take a detour and recover the Necromaster?"

"Precisely," replied Grandpa.

"Wait a minute," said Mr. Sorenson. "What about Seth? And Sarah? They're in real trouble! If you guys put your obligation to rescue them on hold, who knows what Murdred might do to them?"

Grandpa sighed. "I care about both Seth and Sarah. I realize that they must be terrified. But remember that they told us Murdred just wanted to keep them locked up until they gave into his demands. They're invaluable to Murdred, so I don't foresee the Demon God causing them any malice. However, I don't believe getting to them will be easy. If anything, Murdred and his crew will take extra precautions to make sure that Seth and Sarah don't have such an easy time fleeing from his castle.

"It's up to us to rescue them this time," said Warren. "And this Necromaster, if it really is all that, it may be our best shot at getting through the Demon Domain. While saving Seth and Sarah is far more important to me and everyone in this room, the Demon Domain maybe just the ticket we need to help them."

"Going after this Necromaster," said Clover. "It's got a vault to tackle, just like going after one of those artifacts, or instruments of eternal power."

"After enduring the Demon Domain," said Kendra, "plus all those other vaults, I'm not afraid of anything that the Floodmaze might throw at us."

"That's the spirit," said Warren, as he clapped his hands.

"Wait a moment," said Kendra. "If this vault is just underneath Lake Superior, then it, along with the Necromaster, are within this world. So, why don't we just form the Omega Star and simply _wish_ for the Necromaster?"

"Of course!" said Warren. "We never had the option to use the Omega Star to wish for an artifact from a vault! But this would save us a heap of trouble. Let's do it!"

"Bright and I will be back shortly," said Bracken, as he and Bright got up from their seats. "See you soon!"

* * *

No more than twenty minutes later, the five keepers had arrived at Fablehaven, each bringing with them their respective instrument of eternal power. Now in the living room, each keeper placed her instrument down on the coffee table, successfully forming the Omega Star.

"Okay," said Kendra, placing her hands upon the completed Omega Star. "I wish that the Necromaster would appear on the table in front of me."

There was a brief pause. The Omega Star failed to glow, as it did not react to Kendra's wish.

"I knew it," said Warren. "I had a feeling it would be too good to be true."

"Maybe there isn't an Omega Star," said Grandma. "It might have been destroyed, or it's in the Demon Domain, or it's a hoax."

"One way to find out," said Warren, placing his hand on the Omega Star. "Hopefully this'll work. Is the Necromaster real? And why can't we wish for it?"

The Omega Star glowed, and a small piece of paper appeared on the table. Kendra picked it up and read the was was written on it aloud.

_The Necromaster is real. It is tool of demon origin, and the light magic of the Omega Star is unable to retrieve it._

"If wishing for it is impossible," said Grandpa, "then I see no other choice. Our top priority is recovering the Necromaster, so that you can use it to get through the Demon Domain and save Seth and Sarah. Hopefully."


	15. Turmoil

**Chapter 15: Turmoil**

While Kendra, Warren, Bracken and Bright had been left behind in a chasm somewhere in the Demon Domain, Xipp, Xeero and Xillch had made off with Seth and Sarah. The unicorns unable to follow them, the three adlets had climbed up the wall of the chasm and were now scampering across the badlands that seemingly sprawled the entire realm.

Slung over Xeero's shoulder, Seth squirmed around as ferociously as he could, in an attempt to wrangle himself free of the blue adlet's firm grasp. As Xeero had been holding onto Seth by his ankles, the shadow charmer was free to move his arms around. But alas, Seth lacked the physical strength to have any impact on the adlet's movement.

Seth looked over at Sarah, and saw that she too being held in the same manner by Xipp. Sarah was also struggling to wriggle her way out of the red adlet's hold on her, but she too was having no luck in fighting to free herself.

"Sarah!" shouted Seth. "Can't you use your enhanced power to overpower the adlets?"

"Don't you think I've been trying?" blurted Sarah. "That power must've worn off!"

"Would you two shut up?" asked Xillch, who was running alongside the two other adlets. "If you don't have the power to stop us now, you might as well admit defeat."

Xillch clearly had a point. As long as they lacked the ability to overcome the adlets, there was nothing that they could do. The adlets, were bigger than they were, a whole lot stronger, and there were three of them.

"Why aren't the others coming after us?" asked Sarah.

"The unicorns can't withstand too much dark energy," replied Seth. "Something must've happened that ultimately weakened them."

"But what could have caused that?" asked Sarah.

"Wish I knew," said Seth.

"I told you two to shut up!" snarled Xillch. "You're lucky Murdred wants you alive, or we'd have devoured you already."

Not wanting to aggravate the adlets any further, Seth and Sarah both opted to remain quiet for the rest of the journey. Due to the angle he was being held at, Seth was unable to see forward.

After what felt like an uneventful quarter of an hour, the adlets had soon returned to Murdred's castle. Seth could tell, as they were now running across the bridge he had already seen at two different points.

Once the adlets had darted through the front door of the castle, they had arrived in the entry hall, and immediately came to a halt.

"Okay, listen up," said Xipp. "Murdred said that if we found these two brats together, that we keep them separated, and that we bring him the boy first."

"What about the girl?" asked Xeero.

"I will take her down to the dungeon for now. You and Xillch bring the boy up to see Murdred."

"Seth!" cried Sarah, as Xipp proceeded to run down a hallway, carrying with him the female shadow charmer.

"Sarah!" exclaimed Seth, as Xeero proceeded to scurry up the first flight of stairs, with Xillch accompanying the two of them.

After climbing several massive flights of of stairs up through the castle, the adlets had finally brought Seth to the top floor. Xeero and Xillch ran up to the grand pair of doors that served as the entrance to Murdred's throne room.

"Open," said Xillch, prompting the doors to magically open inwards. As the two adlets then sauntered into the throne room, Xeero moved Seth off of his shoulder and dangled him in the air by his ankles. Now able to look forward, Seth could see Murdred sitting on his throne, accompanied by Demoric and Helwic.

"You found him after all," said Murdred. "Well done."

"Sarah too!" said Xillch. "Xipp took her down to the dungeon for now."

"Excellent," said Murdred, locking his fingers together. "Xeero, bring Seth to the base of my dais and set him down. On his feet."

"You got it," said Xeero, as he brought Seth up towards the throne, then turned his body right-side up before setting him down.

"Go now, Xeero," said Murdred, prompting the adlet to scurry back towards the entrance to the throne room, where Xillch was waiting for him.

"Approach me, Seth," said Murdred, looking down at Seth from his throne.

Knowing that he had no way out, Seth took a deep breath, then walked up the dais and stopped in front of Murdred. This was now the closest he had ever gotten to Murdred.

"Demoric, give Seth a place to sit down."

The raven-haired negafae held out his hand, and unleashed a black energy bolt from his index finger. The bolt landed near Seth, producing a rather comfortable looking chair. Compared to Murdred's throne, it was tiny.

"Sit."

Seth sat down in the chair, which was facing Murdred's throne.

"Some tea, Helwic," said Murdred.

Helwic shot a blast of fire from her fingertip, causing a small table to appear between Seth and Murdred. On the table were two teacups filled with piping hot tea. The one in front of Murdred was significantly larger than Seth's.

"Um, thanks?" said Seth, reaching for his cup.

"I **ALWAYS** go first," said Murdred in a much fiercer voice, prompting Seth to lower his hand. "Unless I say so otherwise."

Seth waited as Murdred lifted his cup and took a sip, prompting Seth to now do the same. Oddly enough, for something that had been conjured up by a negafae, the tea was actually quite tasty.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" asked Seth. "Instead of locking me in the dungeon like Sarah?"

"I think I've been going about this whole thing the wrong way. Seth, you are a shadow charmer. As such, your body and soul have been imbued with darkness. Do you know where darkness comes from? The very essence and source of darkness?"

Seth took a moment to think. Before he could come up with a response, the doors to the throne room swung open. Xipp came scampering in and ran up to the base of the dais.

"Xipp!" blurted Murdred. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of a conversation?"

"S-s-s-sorry, Lord Murdred!" said Xipp excitedly. "I just locked that girl... What's her name? What's her name..."

"Spit it out," said Murdred. "I hope for your sake that you haven't developed a bloody mental disorder."

"Sarah!" snapped Xipp. "I locked Sarah up in the dungeon!"

"Fine."

Murdred turned his attention back to Seth.

"Um, what do you mean by mental disorder?"

"Retardation," said Murdred. "Beings who are retarded are a complete waste of a life."

Seth couldn't believe what he was hearing. Even though this was coming from the ruler of the Demon Domain, why did Murdred hold such a grudge towards the mentally challenged?

"What do you have against mentally challenged people?" asked Seth.

"Before we were so rudely interrupted, I was asking you where darkness comes from. The answer? Hatred. Before I came the demonic overlord that I am today, I used to be a mere human being. Although I was near powerless in that state, it was my views, the same that I hold to this day, that allowed me to become the monster sitting before you."

"So you used to be human," said Seth. "But, what exactly did you _do_ to _become_ a demon?

"Many, many years ago, back in the dark ages, I was a human being, known by the name Damien Dukes. My parents died when I was very young, so I was left in the care of nuns. Very strict and demanding, they helped shape me into the man who would descend into demon-hood.

"I can tell that we are from completely different eras. But, how did you go from being a disciplined man to a demon?"

"When I was growing up, the nuns seldom gave me any opportunity to play. Instead, I constantly got forced to work and study. It was not a pleasant experience. It scarred me."

"So, you didn't exactly have the best childhood," said Seth. "In those days, I don't think a lot of people did."

"I tried to make amends," said Murdred. "I even went into the business of building toys. But only toys intended for boys. If women could grow up to be as strict and domineering as those nuns, I wanted no part in contributing to their maturity. Men are the dominant gender, anyway. Women are weak. They exist only for reproductive purposes."

Seth bent his head down and rolled his eyes. Murdred was officially insane, as far as he was concerned.

"Well, that still doesn't explain the whole demon scenario. You were a toymaker. Your toys made children happy, didn't they?"

"I was _getting_ to that," stated Murdred. "One of the toys I had crafted was that of a horse. Crafted entirely out of wood, the toy was on wheels and could be pulled around by a piece of twine. It was my most popular creation."

"Okay," said Seth, wondering where this discussion was leading.

"Well, one day I had gone to the bazaar to run an errand. While I was there, I saw a small child playing with one of my horse toys."

"So?"

"Do you care to take a guess as to what _gender_ this child was?"

"Um, I'm going to guess it was a girl."

"That's correct. A girl was playing with one of my toys. My toy, which I had personally crafty by hand, with the intent that a small _boy_ would be able to enjoy it. But instead, I see that a pathetic _girl_ was playing with this toy. And not just any girl. For you see, this girl was the child of somebody's slave. Somebody had probably bought this toy from me and given it to their slave's child."

"How did you know she was the child of a slave""

"Because she was black. I did not create toys with the intention of allowing girls to get enjoyment out of them. Especially _black_ ones. When I saw that this had happened with this toy, and possibly others, I snapped. I followed that girl back to her home, abducted her when she was unsupervised, and drowned her."

"Are you for real?" asked Seth.

"YES, I AM FOR REAL!" blared Murdred. "I was in no way going to live with the fact that a black girl was reaping enjoyment at my expense. Of course, with blood on my hands, and my mind in distress, I had to close up shop and leave town. I went around, looking for others whom I could cleanse the Earth of. Others like her. Like that little black girl who in no way deserved to play with one of my toys."

Seth wanted to ask what it was about black people that aggravated Murdred so much, then remembered that this man had been brought up long before the Civil Rights Movement.

"Um, don't you think it's ironic that you yourself are now a black demon?"

"This is different. As a demon, I am truly black, and proud of it. It is not atypical for demon kind at all. Negroes are brown more than anything. As far as humans go, I find them revolting."

"Look, I don't know why you have these irate views of the world," said Seth, "but times have changed. People are more open-minded and accepting of other cultures and beliefs. If anything, you're the who's wrong."

"I am NOT wrong," said Murdred. "The modern world was pioneered by my kind. But it is now shared with all kinds of undeserving people of inferior races and beliefs. I hate it. I loathe it. I am thankful that it's influence has no impact whatsoever on the Demon Domain. However, I would much prefer it if I could rule your mortal world. If I cannot revert it back to the way it used to be, I would be satisfied in transgressing the mortal world into a world full of demons."

"Good luck with that," said Seth, crossing his arms.

"To do this," said Murdred, "would require a great deal of power and hatred. A degree of power so strong, no creature from the Demon Domain can even possess it. But that is where you come in."

"What do you mean?"

"You are a shadow charmer. Your potential for umbrakinesis is unparalleled."

"Umbrakinesis?"

"The power to control darkness," said Demoric. "Even us negafae have our limits. You theoretically have unlimited power at your potential."

"If only you would apply it," said Helwic.

"Why me?" asked Seth.

"Because you are a human," replied Murdred. "Blessed with the powers of darkness by a royal demon. I was not blessed. I became dark by committing so many murderous acts of hate, that a portal appeared before me, pulling me into the Demon Domain. It had been the doing of Helwic, who had pulled me in at the request of Gorgrog, who was looking for a disciple from the human race. By living in the Demon Domain long enough, I naturally transformed into the abomination you see before you. I got my power through sheer id, not through a blessing like you or Sarah."

"So, you _need_ a shadow charmer to do this?" asked Seth.

"Yes. And they would have to agree through their own free will. If you or even Sarah refuse to agree, you can spend the rest of your lives living as my prisoners."

"And if one of us agrees?"

"Then I increase my power, granting myself and my negafae the ability to enter the mortal world, which we can proceed to conquer."

"You really think you can conquer the mortal world?" asked Seth. "You won't get very far. There are more than enough fairies out there that will stop you."

Murdred laughed. "My influence alone will be more than enough to vanquish those fairies. It is why the ones who have ventured here always succumb to the darkness of the Demon Domain before long. If I can grow powerful enough, my influence will spread throughout the mortal world like wildfire, and no amount of fairies will have the strength to stop it."

"I'd rather **die** than give you the opportunity to take over my world," said Seth. "I may be a shadow charmer, but I'm nothing like you. And neither is Sarah."

"Is that so?" asked Murdred. "You do realize that if you agreed to help me, you could have whatever you want. I could make you a king. Denizens would kneel before you. They would worship you. Do anything for you."

"I don't care in the least for that sort of power."

"Are you sure? I am making you the single greatest offer you will ever come across. Join forces with me and I will make you my second-in-command. You will become a force to be reckoned with."

"Number one, I don't care," said Seth. "Number two, how do I know you aren't lying to me? And number three, I _still_ don't care."

"I am being sincere. If you are willing to provide me with the power I so greatly desire, I would be indebted to you, and would be more than willing to grant you the position of second-in-command. The only catch would be that you do not betray me at some later point."

"I like the world just the way it is," said Seth. "You want me to be happy, then send myself and Sarah back to the mortal world and leave us alone. I'm not too concerned with what goes on in the Demon Domain, so long as what goes on here stays in here."

"Oh," said Murdred. "So you wish to go back to living on a preserve? Living as a shadow charmer in a world populated by fairies? Do you really want to go back to being the outcast that you are? To living as the one being who ultimately does not belong in the very place that he calls home?"

"What do you know?" asked Seth. "I love my home and my family. And my family loves me. Even if I am a shadow charmer. And thanks to Sarah, I'll never be the only shadow charmer anymore, no matter where in the world she is."

"I am making an offer to you," said Murdred. "You were my first choice over Sarah due to the fact that you are a male. If you refuse my offer, I will be left with no choice but to enlist Sarah, as being helped by a girl is better than getting no help at all."

"I'm not helping you," said Seth. "And neither will Sarah. Final answer."

"One of you will eventually give in," said Murdred. "Unless you wish to spend the rest of your lives as my prisoners. And since both of you appear to be fairly young, the two of you both have long prison terms to look forward to.

"My friends will rescue me," said Seth. "You'll see."

"Your friends can't even tolerate this world," said Xeero. "Every time we run into them, they try to defeat us, but they always seem to lose their strength."

"They'll find a way. I'm not giving up hope!"

"I can see that we may have to resort to more drastic measures," said Murdred. "Xipp! Xeero! Xillch! Take Seth not to the dungeon, but to a nearby holding room and lock him up! I don't want him hanging out with that _Sarah_ girl anymore!"

"Sure," said Xipp, as he and the other adlets stood up at the base of the dais.

"You can come with us, peacefully," said Xeero, "or we can do this the hard way."

"I'm coming," said Seth, getting up from his chair and walking down towards the adlets.

"Come with us," said Xillch, as the aldets led Seth towards the entrance to the throne room.

"You'll be back, Seth," said Murdred, as Seth walked through the doorway. "And in the end, I _will_ get what I want."

As soon as Murdred finished speaking, the doors to the throne room slammed behind Seth.

"This way," said Xipp, as he, Xeero and Xillch led Seth down the hallway, before stopping in front of a door.

"In here," said Xeero, as he opened the door and shoved Seth inside. The room appeared to be not only small, but empty as well. Although it was not in the basement, the room felt no better than the dungeon.

"See you later," said Xillch, nearly slamming the door in Seth's face. Seth couldn't help but listen to the three adlets laughing amongst themselves as they walked off down the hallway.


	16. Globetrotting

**Chapter 16: Globetrotting**

Back home at Fablehaven, Kendra was out on the porch, sitting on the swing and thinking to herself about the situation at hand. As the seat swayed back and forth, Kendra couldn't help but wonder. Was the Necromancer really the solution? Assuming that they could get the thing to work once they found it, would using it to storm the Demon Domain really be their best possible chance at rescuing Seth and Sarah?

"Hey, Kendra," said Goldenrod, as she flew up towards the swing, accompanied by Passion and Larissa.

"Hey," said Kendra. "Um, I know you weren't supposed to come along with us to the Demon Domain, but thank you. We'd have been doomed if you hadn't been there to restore Bracken. But, I need to ask, _why _did you come?"

"We really wanted to help you," replied Passion. "We want to be fairy angels someday."

Kendra smiled. "There aren't too many fairies out there who have that goal. I'm thankful for that. But, you kinda defied our orders by coming along."

"But we saved you, didn't we?" asked Carissa.

Kendra nodded. "I guess that makes you three kinda like Seth."

"How so?" asked Passion, who was displaying a worried look on her face.

"Seth likes to go against the grain, so to speak. Usually, his negligence only makes things worse. But sometimes, what he ends up doing is actually beneficial."

"So, should we be following our hearts, or somebody's orders?" asked Larissa.

"Good question," answered Kendra, as Warren walked out the front door, wearing a pleasant smile.

"I got it," said Warren.

"Got what?" asked Kendra.

"A plan. We may not know what lies within the Floodmaze, but after our little splash in the ocean earlier, I came up with what I believe to be the most practical solution."

"What's that?"

"Mariana."

"Mariana?" asked Kendra. "You really mean it?"

"Yup."

"Who's Mariana?" asked Goldenrod.

"She's a leviathan," replied Warren.

"_Leviathan_?" gasped Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod in unison, as they hid behind Kendra.

"She's actually really friendly," said Kendra, gently patting the fairies with her hands. "You don't need to worry. Although she's closer to Seth than anyone else."

"Where is this _leviathan_?" asked Larissa.

"She should be at Duskreef Lagoon," replied Warren. "It's a preserve on an island located between Australia and New Zealand."

"But wait," said Kendra. "The Floodmaze is located in Lake Superior, which is north of Michigan. Getting Mariana from Duskreef Lagoon to the Floodmaze won't be easy."

"We do have the Translocator," said Warren. "All we need to do is to reach the Floodmaze, then travel to Duskreef lagoon. From there, we can warp Mariana directly to the Floodmaze."

"You think it'll work?" asked Kendra.

"I hope so. The Floodmaze is supposedly entirely underwater. And the last time we went on an underwater mission, Mariana was a great help to us. It's been over half a year since we last saw her."

"It sounds like a feasible enough plan that it could work," said Kendra. "When should we get going?"

"The sooner, the better," replied Warren. "I'll go explain our mission to the others, and once we're good and ready, we can move on out."

Several minutes later, Kendra and Warren gathered up the rest of the family at the house, along with Bracken, Bright, Clover, Raxtus, Geminus and Vanessa.

"Are you all sure that you're up for this?" asked Grandma.

"I was born ready," said Warren.

"It can't be any worse going back to the Demon Domain," added Bracken. "At least in this vault, us fairies won't have to worry about being overwhelmed by darkness."

"Try not to take too long," said Mrs. Sorenson. "Every minute you spend going after this Necromaster, is an extra minute Seth has to endure being in the Domain Domain."

"We know," said Kendra. "I'm not too keen on the whole idea of the Necromaster, but if it really is our only shot at braving the Demon Domain, it's probably our best bet in the long run."

"Please take care of Vanessa for us," said Raxtus, who had turned to face Dale and Clover.

"She's in good hands," said Dale, who was currently holding the purple hatchling in his arms.

"Well, looks like we've got everything," said Warren, "so let's get going."

Warren then reached into his bag and removed the Translocator.

"Where are we going with this?" asked Kendra.

"First, we need to travel to the Floodmaze, so that we can return there afterwards with Mariana. I've never been to Lake Superior myself. Has anyone here gone on any trips to Lake Superior that I should know about? We can use that as a shortcut."

"Raxtus and I have flown over Lake Superior in our flights between here and Wyrmroost," said Geminus.

"That's too vague," said Warren. "It's a huge place. Also you'd have been in the sky, making it too difficult to pinpoint your location. I've been to Chicago before, so we'll use it as a starting point."

"Where in Chicago are we going to travel to?" asked Kendra.

"Grant Park," said Warren. "There'll be people around, but hopefully we won't draw too much unwanted attention."

"Good luck, everybody," said Clover.

"Take care," said Dale.

At that moment, Raxtus turned invisible, while Geminus shrunk down into her diminutive fairy form.

Kendra placed her hand on the Translocator, as did Bracken, Bright and Geminus. She then felt as Raxtus invisibly touched the Translocator.

Warren smiled, then twisted the Translocator. "Okay, let's do this."

In an instant, Kendra experienced the thrill of being pulled through the Translocator. A moment later, she found herself standing in a large park of some sort, surrounded by well-tended flower beds. In the distance, she could see tall buildings situated behind some treetops.

"Don't think anyone saw us," said Warren, looking around as he slipped the Translocator back into his bag.

"Now what?" asked Raxtus, whose invisible presence Kendra could only sense.

"You and Geminus need to fly us out of here," said Warren. "Let's go behind those trees over there and take off."

The group all walked away from the main path they had arrived on, then crossed over some grass to where some trees were growing close together. Once they were surrounded by trees, Raxtus became visible, while Geminus grew back into her dragon form.

"So far, so good," said Warren, as he climbed up onto Geminus' back.

"Ride on me, Kendra," said Raxtus, prompting Kendra to climb onto the platinum dragon. Bracken climbed on behind her, while Bright got behind Warren. Now that everyone was atop a dragon, Raxtus and Geminus started to flap their wings and took off.

Kendra looked down at the park below, watching as it grew smaller the higher that Raxtus flew. She could soon see the city of Chicago way beneath her, as the dragons rose up into the clouds. Needless to say, Kendra would've like to have actually seen the city for what it was, but now was not the time.

The dragons proceeded to fly northbound for close to an hour. As they had been in the sky the entire time, it was impossible for Kendra to get a sense of their exact location. Fortunately for her, dragons could instinctively determine whereabouts their destination was.

"We should be closing in on the Floodmaze's coordinates," said Warren, looking over a piece of paper. "We're high above the middle of the lake, so we should be good to fly down."

Kendra grasped Raxtus firmly, as the fairy dragon took a nosedive downwards. The thrill and sheer distance of the descent was greater than any roller coaster could ever hope to achieve. Down and down, faster and faster, Raxtus and Geminus made their way towards the lake below by flying in a tailspin formation. Shortly before they would've hit the water, the dragons veered upwards. As though the two dragons were professionals, Raxtus and Geminus seemingly missed colliding with the water by practically a few inches.

"Whoo-eee!" said Warren, as Geminus slowed down her flight by spinning around in a circle above the water, as did Raxtus.

"This never gets old," laughed Raxtus.

"Where now?" asked Bright. Kendra looked around, and was only able to see nothing but water from one stretch of the horizon to the other. She knew that Ontario had to be to the north, while Michigan was to the south, wherever north and south actually were.

"We should be really close to the vault now," said Warren, poring over his notes.

"How will we know where exactly it is?" asked Kendra.

"The only clue we've got is the exact co-ordinates," said Warren. "We'll have to dive down to find the vault, and we might as well do that once we've returned with Mariana."

"So where should the vault be from this point?" asked Bright.

"Let me see," said Warren, cross-referencing his notes with his phone. "We want to go... that way!"

Raxtus and Geminus flew off in the direction that Warren had been pointing in.

The two dragons were now flying only a few feet over the surface of the water. They weren't moving all that fast either, as Kendra was able to enjoy the breeze as she rode above the lake.

"Slow down," said Warren, prompting Geminus to lower her speed. Raxtus followed Warren's request and slowed down as well.

"Okay... Stop around... here!"

Geminus drifted down into the water, as did Raxtus. Kendra could feel as her boots and pants plunged into the lake, getting soaked immediately. Warren, Bracken and Bright had all gotten their lower legs soaked as well. Ironically, the dragons, who had just been zipping through the air for miles, were wading around in the water rather smoothly, not unlike swans.

"Now what?" asked Bracken.

"Well, this should be the place," said Warren. "We just need to mark our spot, so that it'll be easier to picture this place in our mind when we return here."

"Mark this spot?" asked Bright.

"This place is all water," said Warren. "So, an indicator would be a nice thing to have."

"What kind of indicator?" asked Raxtus.

"Why not a buoy?" asked Warren. "We can place a buoy in the water."

"You're a boy," said Bright. "What exactly is you getting wet supposed to accomplish?"

"Not me," said Warren. "A buoy. B-U-O-Y."

"Aren't buoys those floating metal things people place in the water to serve as navigational aids for boats?" asked Bracken.

"That's what I'm talking about," said Warren.

"I think I can do one of those."

Bracken then used his magic to conjure up a silvery buoy in the water. It slowly swayed back and forth due to the waves. "Is this what you wanted?"

"That's perfect!" said Warren. "Now we can travel back to the point of this buoy later when we use the Translocator."

"What if somebody notices this stray buoy floating around out here?" asked Kendra.

"I wouldn't worry about it. Few ships pass through here, and there's probably some distractor spell that keeps them away from this area anyway."

"Now where do we go?" asked Geminus.

"We'll head to Duskreef Lagoon now," said Warren. "Stan told the caretaker that we're coming, as we should be good to go."

"Where exactly is Duskreef Lagoon?" asked Raxtus.

"In the Tasman Sea, off the coast of Australia. I've been to Sydney before, so let's just warp there for now."

Raxtus and Geminus swam next to one another, so that everybody was able to place a hand on the Translocator. Warren proceeded to twist the artifact, and it transported the entire group out of the middle of the lake.

A moment later, Kendra saw that the entire group, still mounted on their dragons, were now in the bedroom of a hotel. In front of them was a couple sleeping in a king size bed. Soaking wet, excess water was flowing down the bodies of the two dragons and creating a puddle on the carpeted flooring.

"What's going on?" whispered Kendra.

"This is the hotel room I stayed in when I was in Sydney," whispered Warren. "I forgot about the time difference in Australia, though. It's still early in the morning here."

"Arrgh, I hate these cramped little rooms," said Raxtus, trying to find a spot where his large body could stand between the bed and the television console. "This is exactly why I never go inside the house."

"Let's just get out of here before those two wake up," said Bracken, climbing down off of Raxtus. Following Bracken's lead, Kendra, Warren and Bright got down from their dragons as well. Kendra then watched as Geminus accidentally smashed the television screen with her tail.

"Oops," said Geminus,

"What's going on?" the man who was in the bed asked wearily. "Who are you? Why are you all wet?"

"Uh, this a dream," said Warren. "Go back to sleep."

"You can't be a dream!" said the man, switching on a bedside lamp. "Alice, wake up!" he shouted, shaking the woman who was in bed with him. "There's these..."

"Nighty night," said Bright, who had directed some sparkles towards the man, causing his to fall into a deep sleep."

"There, _now_ he's dreaming," said Bright.

"Telling someone_ this is a dream_ always works in the movies," said Warren.

"Let's just get out of here," said Raxtus, shrinking down into his diminutive human form. Likewise, Geminus shrunk down to her fairy state. The two of them were still soaking wet.

"Let's do something about this water, too," said Bracken. He then snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Kendra could see that entire group was now completely dried off. Even the carpet, that had just been soaking in water, was now dry as a desert.

"And the TV," said Warren, pointing to the smashed television screen.

"I don't know about fixing electronics," said Bright.

"Hopefully, it's just the cracked screen," said Kendra.

Bright shot a blast of magic at the screen, seemingly fixing the crack that Geminus had made with her tail.

"I think we're good," said Warren, walking towards the door. "Come on."

Kendra bent down and opened her bag, signalling for Raxtus and Geminus to get inside. Once they had gotten in, Kendra followed Warren, Bracken and Bright out the door and into the hallway.

"Man, that trick worked a lot better when we ventured to Cairo," said Warren, as the group proceeded to walk down the hall.

"It would've been better to have dried ourselves off, first," said Bright.

"Things have just been so hectic lately," said Warren, as he reached his hand out and grasped a doorknob "I wasn't thinking.

"What matters is that we're here now," said Bracken, as Warren pushed the door open, revealing a stairwell. The group walked into the stairwell and proceeded to dash several flights of stairs towards the top.

Once they had reached the top of the stairs, Warren tried to open the door. It was locked shut.

"Let me get that for you," said Bracken. As the unicorn prince snapped his fingers, Kendra could hear a latch click from within the door.

"Thanks," said Warren, as he pushed the door open and led the group out onto the rooftop. Once Kendra had stepped outside, she could see a starry night stretching across the sky above her. Brightly lit city towers, many of which were taller than the hotel itself, surrounded the building in every direction.

"Well, we made it this far," said Bright.

Sydney at night was truly a sight to behold. She had only been to Australia once before, and that was from her trip to Obsidian Waste, which was located on the opposite side of the country. She had never seen the city of Sydney with her own eyes before.

"Guess the only thing to do now, is to head out for Duskreef Lagoon," said Warren.

Raxtus and Geminus jumped out of Kendra's bag and landed on the floor in front of her. The others all watched as the two fairy dragons quickly grew into their larger forms.

"Where to now?" asked Raxtus, as Kendra and Bracken climbed onto his back.

"We want to head east," replied Warren, who had boarded Geminus, along with Bright. "But right now, let's take a quick detour to the north end of the city."

"Okay," said Geminus, as she flapped her wings off proceeded to fly off the roof of the hotel, accompanied by Raxtus.

Looking down at the city below her, Kendra could see the waterfront at the north end of the city coming into view as the dragons flew towards it. Before long, Raxtus and Geminus were now flying above Sydney Harbour.

"We're far enough," said Warren. "Turn around!"

As Raxtus turned around to face the skyline of the city before him, what Kendra saw was truly a sight to behold. All of the buildings had been lit up, including the Sydney Opera House. The view of the city that stood before them was simply breathtaking, especially since they were in an elevated position above the water.

"That's beautiful," said Bright. "We certainly don't have anything like _this_ in the Fairy Kingdom."

"And to think that mortals built all this," said Geminus. "Um, no offence to any Sorensons or Burgesses.

"I'd love to admire the sights all day," said Bracken, "but we've got two shadow charmers who need rescuing. We've still got to get to Duskreef Lagoon, meet up with Mariana, and then make our way through the Floodmaze before we can travel back into the Demon Domain."

"You've got a point, Bracken," said Kendra. "We really should get going."

"We need to go on a world tour at some point," said Warren. "Not using these missions as an excuse to leave home. But right now, let's just get moving. Head east, fearless dragons!"

Raxtus and Geminus both nodded, and proceeded to fly in an eastward direction. Now that they were heading towards Duskreef Lagoon, Kendra looked back and watched as the city of Sydney slowly shrank from their perspective until it was out of sight.


	17. Vendettas

**Chapter 17: Vendettas**

Sitting down on the floor of his new accommodation, Seth couldn't help but ponder about his current predicament. By travelling back into the Demon Domain, not only had he put himself at risk, but he had also gotten caught again as well. However, had he not returned, the pact that he had made with the Singing Sisters would've ultimately killed him. As far as Seth was concerned, the current situation he had gotten himself into was clearly a_"damned if you do, damned if you don't" _scenario.

It had been a fair amount of time since Seth had been locked up in this second holding room. Much like the dungeon downstairs, it sported neither any windows nor furniture. However, the door to this room lacked a window of any sort. While it did provide Seth with some actual privacy, it game his a further feeling of emptiness, as he could no longer even get a sense as to what could be going on outside his room.

What would happen to his family? Or the fairies? Or Sarah, for that matter? Here Seth was, imprisoned in this tiny room with no plan to escape. What was he supposed to do? Even if he could break out, Seth lacked the powers and tools necessary to even so much as harm Murdred. Unless a miracle were to suddenly occur, Seth's chances of defeating Murdred and getting back home seemed relatively hopeless.

Seth was caught by surprise when the door to the cell swung open, revealing Xipp, Xeero and Xillch standing on the other side, blocking the doorway.

"Hi Seth," said Xipp in a rather smug voice.

"Oh great," said Seth dryly, "it's Huey, Dewey and Louie. What do you three want?"

"Lord Murdred has requested your presence," said Xeero.

Seth could feel as his heart skipped a beat. "What does he want?"

"He just wants to talk to you," said Xillch. "So either you come with us, or we'll _make_ you come."

Seth groaned. "Fine, I'll come."

The adlets sneered at Seth as he made his way to the door and walked up next to them. Remaining within their reach, Seth walked alongside Xipp, Xeero and Xillch, until they had arrived back in front of the doors to Murdred's throne room.

"Open," said Xeero, prompting the large doors to the throne room to slide open.

"Come in," said Murdred from atop his throne. Going by the tone of his voice, the Demon God sounded neither perturbed nor happy.

"Go on," said Xipp, shoving his oversized paws against Seth's back. The amount of force that Xipp used left Seth with no choice but to stumble forward by several steps.

"Approach me, Seth," said Murdred.

Knowing that there was no way out, Seth proceeded to walk through the throne room and then up the stops of the dais, stopping directly in front of Murdred himself. Standing next to Murdred was Demoric. For whatever reason, Helwic was not around.

"You wanted to see me?" asked Seth.

Murdred nodded as he rubbed one of the many twisted horns that protruded from his scalp. "I feel that I've been going about this entire situation entirely the wrong way. See, you keep claiming that you're not evil, and that you don't have any real enemies."

"Well, no true enemies in the mortal world."

"I find that a bit hard to believe," said Murdred. "There are billions of people living in your world. Are you sure that none of them are people you despise? Homosexuals, perhaps? The Jews?"

"I am _not_ a racist," said Seth. "Not only that, but I'm just one person! I've only met a very small fraction of my world's population!"

"Well, of those people you've met, is there anybody you don't like?"

"What do you care?"

"Answer the question!" snarled Murdred, stomping his clawed foot on the floor.

"Well, there's been a couple of jerks I've run into. Not a big fan of them."

"Tell me about these _jerks_," said Murdred.

"They're just people who've been unjustly mean towards me," said Seth.

"Like who?"

"Well, there was this one guy I knew back in middle school. His name was Josh Ruddock and he was real a prick. Always such a bully. Is _that_ what you wanted to hear?"

"You don't like this _Josh_ person?" asked Murdred.

"No way," said Seth.

"Seize him, Demoric."

The nearby negafae held out his hands, which emitted a black aura. Seth now found himself unable to move.

"Hey, what'd I do?"

"Focus on Josh," said Murdred. "Do it!"

Not knowing what else to do, Seth closed his eyes and pictured Josh in his head. Roughly Seth's age, Josh was tall, a fair bit overweight, and had long, messy dark hair.

"Okay, I've got him," said Seth.

"Open your eyes," said Murdred. "**Now**!"

Seth opened his eyes and saw Murdred staring directly at him. As soon as Murdred closed his eyes, the vertical wrinkle on Murdred's elongated forehead slid open, revealing that the Demon God possessed what appeared to be a third eye. Of course! It had to Murdred's evil eye, which Sarah had mentioned!

Significantly larger than his other eyes, Murdred's evil eye opened sideways, and appeared to be a large, solid white ball with no iris or pupil. The eye proceeded to glow vibrantly.

"No, don't!" said Seth, clenching his own eyes shut.

"Keep your eyes open," said Murdred. "And focus on Josh. I will not hurt you."

Seth stared into Murdred's glowing evil eye. Glowing profusely, the eye seemed to be emitting some invisible force of energy.

"What is this doing?" asked Seth.

"Pinpointing Josh," said Demoric. "It's similar to how we tracked down Sarah."

"I think I have him," said Murdred. "Take note of his position, Demoric."

"I'm getting something," said Demoric, releasing Seth from his hold. The negafae appeared to be be directing his focus towards Murdred's evil eye. "I think this is it. I'm activating activating a portal... now!"

Demoric then waved a silver wand and conjured up a portal in the center of the room. Unlike the white portals that the fairies had used, this one was black.

Murdred proceeded to close his evil eye, then opened up his two normal ones. Xipp, Xeero, Xillch! Enter the portal and bring back the boy I envisioned."

"You got it," said Xillch, as he charged into the portal, along with Xipp and Xeero. Seconds later, the three adlets came running out of the still open portal. Xipp was holding onto none other than Josh Ruddock, whom Seth hadn't seen in over a year. The portal then closed off behind the adlets.

"Put me down, you stupid bear!" snapped Josh, who was squirming to escape from Xipp's grasp. It took a moment for Seth to register that the reason Josh was calling the adlets "bears" was because he didn't have magical milk to drink.

"Bring him to me," said Murdred.

Xipp proceeded to walk up towards Murdred. Holding onto Josh's wrist, he practically dragged him up towards Murdred's throne. Now that he was close by, Seth could count the piercings on Josh's face. The larger boy also reeked of marijuana.

"Seth?" exclaimed Josh, once he had been brought up onto the dais. "Seth Sore-ass-son? What are you doing here? What is this place?"

"Shut up," growled Murdred.

"What are you?" asked Josh.

Facing Josh, Murdred closed his eye and opened his evil eye.

"Seth, what's this all about?"

Murdred's evil eye gazed directly at Josh for a few seconds. It then closed and his normal eyes opened up again.

"Seth, Seth, Seth," said Murdred. "_This_ is your idea of a threat?"

"Look, the guy's a jerk!" said Seth, "but he's a _saint_ compared to you!"

"What's this all about?" asked Josh.

"This boy barely even qualifies as evil!" blurted Murdred. "The darkness within him is almost non-existent. He is useless to me!"

"Well, _sor-ry_," said Seth.

"Look, someone tell this stupid bear to let go of me," exclaimed Josh. "I want to beat the shit out of Seth!"

"Seth," said Murdred, "does this boy bother you?"

"I was doing just fine before your adlets brought him here," replied Seth.

"Seth, if you join forces with me, you can have your way with people like him. People you don't like."

"I keep telling you that I won't do such a thing!" exclaimed Seth.

"Perhaps a little freebie would be to your liking" said Murdred. "Seth, go stand in the center of the room. Now."

"What do you mean by freebie?" asked Seth.

"Just. Go," said Murdred. "Xipp, bring Josh with you."

Seth walked down the dais and over towards the center of the throne room. Xeero and Xillch were loitering nearby, while Xipp and Josh brought up the rear.

"Xipp, release Josh."

As Xipp released his hold on Josh, Seth held his arms in front of his face.

"Hey, Josh," said Seth. "You... think we can talk about this or something? We're in real trouble right now!"

Saying nothing Josh tackled Seth, knocking him down onto his back on the stone flooring. If Seth were to harbor a guess, Josh had to have weighed at least two-hundred pounds, as he could not get out from under him. Seth watched in horror as Josh prepared to smash a right hook towards his face.

Before the fist could make contact, Seth felt as the pressure from Josh's body seemingly vanished. Had Josh just disappeared?

"Hey!" squeaked Josh in a tiny voice. Seth sat up and watched as Josh, now the size of a mouse, fell down off of his stomach and landed between his thighs.

"See, Seth?" said Murdred. "My negafae can do great things for you, _if_ you join me. No longer will people be able to boss you around. You'll be the one calling the shots!"

"Help!" screamed Josh at the top of his tiny lungs. "What' happening?"

Seth looked down at the shrunken boy in his lap. "Seth! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me! Please! I'll do anything! Anything!"

Seth didn't know what to think, or what he should do. As much as he hated Josh, it wasn't his fault he'd been shrunk.

"Go on, Seth," said Murdred. "Do as you will with him."

Seth grabbed Josh gently in one hand, then placed him down on the floor and stood up.

"What's the matter with you, Seth?" asked Murdred. "Demoric is giving you the perfect opportunity to destroy your enemy! Do it!"

"I can't do this!" said Seth. "Josh may be a bad person, but he's not in the same league of evil as someone like you!"

"We aren't getting through to this one," said Murdred. "Try something else, Demoric."

Demoric shot a small bolt of black energy down towards Josh. Once it faded, Josh's clothes had vanished. He was now completely naked.

"Stop!" screamed Josh, using his hands to conceal his genitals.

"Don't you find this funny, Seth?" asked Murdred. "If destroying people isn't your game, we can start with torment and work our way up."

"No!" cried Seth, who didn't want to admit that seeing Josh in this state was mildly amusing, even though it was entirely immoral.

"What about... _this_?" asked Demoric, shooting another black bolt at Josh. Seth watched as the bolt hit Josh, causing the shrunken, naked boy to transmogrify into a normal-sized turkey.

"Enough!" cried Seth, as Josh Ruddock, who was now a game bird, was running around him, gobbling and flapping his wings in distress. "There's no reasoning with you!"

"Well, this has been a waste," said Murdred. "We'll need to try another approach.

Murdred got up from his throne and walked down to where Seth and turkey Josh currently were. He then grabbed Josh in one claw and lifted him into the air. "Demoric, restore Josh to his human form."

Demoric shot Josh with another black bolt of energy, turning him back into a human, though now within Murdred's grasp. Josh was apparently still naked.

"What are you doing?" asked Josh, as Murdred opened his evil eye and gazed directly at Josh with it. Seth watched as Josh stared directly into the glowing eye. A moment later, Josh's skin and hair had turned completely white.

Josh was then tossed onto the floor, but did not flinch. He had been turned into a mute albino, just like Warren used to be.

"Dispose of this trash," said Murdred.

Xipp, Xeero and Xillch all huddled around Josh, then proceeded to tear off the albino's limbs and started to gnaw away at his flesh. The sight was horrifying for Seth to watch.

"You monsters!" screamed Seth, though the remark only seemed fitting for adlets.

At that moment, Helwic walked into the throne room, wearing a proud smile.

"I've got it!" she announced. "I know how to win Seth over! May I borrow the adlets? This won't take long!"

"Okay," said Xeero, tossing one of Josh's bones into a pile. "We're done with this guy anyway!"

"This better work," said Murdred, as the three adlets followed Helwic out of the throne room. "I need to clear my head."

Seth looked down at Josh's bones. They were all that remained of him after being devoured by the adlets.

"Look at that," said Murdred, gesturing towards what was left of Josh, "you couldn't defeat Josh. But with our help, anyone who opposes you will end up just like him."

"What do you want to do with Seth?" asked Demoric.

"I'm not sure," said Murdred. "If Helwic is being truthful, she should be back soon. Seth can wait here with us. Have a seat, Seth."

As though he had been commanded, Demoric used his power to summon a seat for Seth to sit on. It appeared to be the same as the one he had sat on during his previous visit with Murdred.

"Think about it," said Murdred. "You play along with me, and you can do unto anyone the same way Demoric and I treated Josh."

Seth said nothing. He simply crossed his arms and turned his head.

A few minutes later, the doors to the throne room opened up again. Xipp, Xeero and Xillch came in, followed by Helwic. The three adlets appeared to be carrying one or two humans in their arms, all of whom were yelling and squirming in an attempt to get free, but were all failing.

"I have the _ingredients_ we need for the spell," said Helwic.

"Good," said Murdred smugly.

"Put me down!" roared one of the captives that Xillch was holding.

"I told you to **shut up**," snapped Helwic.

"What do you mean by _ingredients_?" asked Seth.

"These people are a selection of the worst of the worst," said Helwic. "We travelled to the mortal world and collected an assortment of very malicious people. People so vile, their evil and hatred will be brewed directly into an elixir. And when you drink this elixir, Seth, your very soul and free will shall fall to the dark side. You will be just as wicked and malevolent as Murdred."

"No!" said Seth. "You can't do this!"

Murdred laughed. "Are you telling _me_ what to _do_? We can force you to drink this potion, and there's not a thing you can do about it!"

"So, what kinds of humans did you snag?" asked Demoric.

"First up is a skinhead," said Helwic, as Xipp tossed as skinhead onto the floor before him. He had a shaven head, and a thick swastika tattooed onto his arm.

"A gang member."

Xeero then tossed a black man wearing a bandana next to the skinhead.

"I'll kill you!" roared the skinhead, as the two men proceeded to start fighting each other. Demoric quickly used his magic to immobilize both of them.

"Easy, you two," said Demoric. "You'll all be dead soon enough."

"A terrorist," said Helwic," as Xillch tossed a Palestinian man wearing a green headband to the floor. "And a mass murderer," she continued, as Xipp then tossed a woman with messy, uncombed hair next to the other three.

"So, these people will do the trick?" asked Demoric.

"What about this one?" asked Xillch, who was still holding a young girl in his arm. She had long, greasy hair and was wearing frayed, ratty clothes which included a hooded sweater. "I found her on the street when we were looking for that mass murderer. Thought she might be of some use."

Helwic placed her hand up towards the weary girl. "This girl has no inner darkness within her! She is useless to me! Why do you even have her?"

"You sure she's no good to us?" said Xipp.

"She's _useless_!" blared Helwic. "But it matters not. We already have a sufficient amount of people who, regardless of the beliefs, reek of evil, so we should be able to go ahead with brewing the elixir."

"So, what do we do with this one?" asked Xillch, holding up the girl by her arm.

"I don't care," replied Helwic. "You can eat her for a snack for all I care."

"I'm still full from eating Josh," said Xeero, rubbing his stomach.

"Let's save her for later," said Xipp.

"Forget that insignificant girl!" said Murdred. "Start the preparing the elixir already!"

"Patience, Lord Murdred," said Helwic. "This whole process will take some time."

"How much time?" asked Murdred, crossing his arms.

"Not too long. We just need to gather a few other simple ingredients. Then we mix them all together in a large vat with these four, evil humans. Once the humans are brewed into the elixir, we let it simmer for a while, and when it's ready, we force-feed it to Seth!"

"Excellent," said Murdred. "Xipp, Xeero, Xillch! Take Seth back to his holding chamber! The negafae can start preparing the elixir"

"Got it!" said the adlets, as Xeero grabbed Seth, and proceeded to drag him out of the room. Seth then noticed that Xillch was still holding onto the girl from earlier.

Once they reached the room Seth had been in, Xipp opened the door and Xeero tossed Seth back in. Xillch then tossed the girl in as well, and she landed on the floor next to Seth.

"We're gonna keep this brat with you!" said Xillch. "You can talk to her if you like, but don't get too attached. When we come back for you, Seth, we'll dine on her!"

The adlets slammed the door, then proceeded to walk away laughing. Instinctively, Seth turned to face the fallen girl.

"Are you okay?" asked Seth.

"Shut up!" hissed the girl, turning her head away from him. "Just leave me alone!"


	18. Reunion

**Chapter 18: Reunion**

Somewhere over the Tasman Sea, Raxtus and Geminus were flying high across the night sky. The dragons had departed from Sydney over an hour ago, and were currently enroute to Duskreef Lagoon, which was located somewhere between Australia and New Zealand.

Despite the fact that it was the dead of night in this hemisphere, Kendra and her friends were not tired in the least, for they had travelled to Australia via the Translocator early in the day. The thought of being fully awake at this hour seemed somewhat unnerving to Kendra, as if the group should instead take a nap and wake up when dawn had reached Australia.

"I think we're getting really close now," said Warren, looking over his notes in one hand, while grasping onto Geminus with the other.

"Wherever this place is, I'm just glad the distractor spell protecting it has no effect on us," said Raxtus.

"Is that it?" asked Bright, pointing down to an atoll that was a fair bit in the distance.

"Let's hope so," said Warren. "Otherwise, I'm not sure _where_ Duskreef Lagoon is even supposed to be."

Raxtus and Geminus descended down towards the sea beneath them, until they were flying only fifty feet or so above the surface of the water. As the atoll came closer into range, Kendra noticed a vast escarpment that spanned the entire far end of the area. However, the closer end appeared to be flat, almost at sea level.

Soon the dragons had flown directly into the atoll, where they could now see many islands that they couldn't see a moment ago, scattered across the lagoon.

"Were we really supposed to just fly in here like this?" asked Raxtus, as he and Geminus began to fly around the perimeter of the lagoon, which was easily the size of a moderate lake.

"This place doesn't have a gate," said Warren. "And there aren't too many people who could've just flown in like we just did. Besides, we have clearance to be here, so it's all good."

"That island over there," said Kendra, pointing to an island with a large house that had been erected on it. "Is that the caretaker's place?"

"Looks like it," said Warren. "Let's land there, dragons."

Raxtus and Geminus took note of the island with the house and soared down towards it, where they both came to a landing. Once they had stopped, the two dragons lowered their wings, allowing their passengers to climb down from them.

The house that stood before them was by far the most prominent feature on the island. Unlike the buildings at Fablehaven, this house appeared to be fairly sleek-looking and was quite modern in its design. Surrounding the house was a garden and a lawn with several palm trees, which made up the remainder of the small island.

Looking at the house again, Kendra saw that there appeared to be a light on in one of the rooms on the first floor.

"Someone's in there, said Bright.

"They're expecting us," said Warren, walking towards the front door to the house. "No reason to be coy with them."

Warren then pushed the doorbell. The light in the entry hall flicked on, and the front door opened up. Standing on the other side of the door was a man dressed in work clothes. His age presumably somewhere between Warren and Dale's, he sported wavy, shoulder-length blonde hair and striking blue eyes.

"Jeff Dover?" asked Warren, extending his hand. "Warren Burgess, Knight of the Dawn. I'm a representative of the Fablehaven preserve. We come in peace."

"Glad to be of service," said the other man in an Australian accent with a smile, as he shook Warren's hand. "I am indeed Jeff Dover. Along with my wife Carol, we are the caretakers of Duskreef Lagoon. I welcome you. Please, come in."

Raxtus and Geminus shrunk themselves down, and the entire group proceeded to follow Jeff into the house. The interior of the house was appeared to be well furnished and polished, filled with high-end appliances and works of modern art.

"Take a seat," said Jeff, directing the group into the living room. Kendra soon found herself a seat on black leather couch.

As soon as everyone was seated, the group proceeded to introduce themselves to Jeff one-by-one.

"Can I get you folks anything to eat?" asked Jeff. "A drink? Carol is sleeping upstairs, so it's best we let her rest."

"Thanks, but no thanks," said Bracken. "The sooner we can get things underway, the better. We need to meet up with Mariana so that we can get going."

"The Floodmaze," said Jeff. "I'm just as intrigued by that place as the rest of you are. If you're looking for assistance in a place like that, you came to the right place. The creatures here are almost all aquatic to some extent. Then again, while most of them are gentle, they aren't overly docile, even towards Carol and myself."

"That's why we need to meet up with Mariana," said Bright. "She' the toughest aquatic creature that we know. And she's loyal."

"I understand," said Jeff. "I'll take you to see her. Any other questions before we head out?"

"How'd this place get the name Duskreef Lagoon?" asked Kendra.

Jeff smiled. "On your way over, did you notice how the escarpment here runs across only the east end? And how the west is open? Well, on a clear evening, the setting sun glistens along the surface of each and every last wave of water and reefs around the preserve, giving off the most spectacular golden aura."

Jeff then reached for a framed picture on a nearby table and passed it to Kendra. Looking at it, Kendra could see just what Jeff was talking about. Even though it was just a picture, the entirety of Duskreef Lagoon in the evening was truly a sight to behold. If only they could have come to the preserve at the proper time.

"Cool," said Warren. "We certainly don't have anything that can compete with that at Fablehaven."

After setting the picture back down, Jeff led the group back out of the house. Now that they were outside again, Kendra was quick to notice a long dock at the front of the island with several yachts and motorboats parked alongside to it.

The group followed Jeff around to the back of the house, where a helicopter was settled on a helipad.

"Are we gonna fly to where Mariana is?" asked Kendra.

"This chopper's only for getting on and off the property when we travel to the mainland," said Jeff. "Normally I just take a boat to get around the lagoon. But Mariana likes to hang out at the fairy shrine, and the fairies there hate the sound of motorboats. If I want to visit the shrine, I need to ride on the back of Wavestreaker."

"Who's Wavestreaker?" asked Geminus, who along with Raxtus, had grown back into her full-sized form.

"A plesio," said Jeff. "But... Wavestreaker is fast asleep right now. She'd hate for it to be woken up at this wee hour."

"Is it all right if we just flew to the island?" asked Raxtus, who along with Geminus, had grown back into his full-sized dragon form.

Jeff smiled. "Ah, dragons! There aren't any living on this preserve, since they mostly stick to dragon sanctuaries. But as long as these two are around, why not?"

"One of you dragons okay with a third passenger?" asked Kendra, as she climbed up onto Raxtus' back.

"I can hold someone in my arms," said Raxtus. "That'd probably be best."

"I'll do it," said Jeff. I've rode the back of Wavestreaker more than enough times. Might be a nice change of pace."

Once the others had all seated themselves on the backs of the dragons, Jeff stood in front of Raxtus and allowed the platinum fairy dragon to wrap his arms around him.

"I've gotcha," said Raxtus.

"All right," said Jeff, who was being held in such a way that he was still able to move his arms. "The fairy shrine island where Mariana usually resides is over _that_ way."

Raxtus and Geminus took note of where Jeff was pointing, and proceeded to fly off the island they had been gathered on. As the dragons were not flying too high over the surface of the water, Kendra was able to get a nice, low view of the lagoon. Thanks to her ability to see in the dark, she was able to observe the various islands across the water, even though there was precious little time to admire them.

"What are all these islands for?" asked Kendra.

"A lot of semi-aquatic creatures live on them," replied Jeff. "Although they're mostly asleep right now. One of the islands even has a boathouse where Bernice, our giant magic milk-giving dugong resides."

Before long, the dragons were approaching an island located on the eastern end of the preserve.

"Hold it!" said Jeff. "The last bloke who set foot on that island turned into sea foam! You dragons had best land in the water near the shore."

Heeding Jeff's warning, Raxtus and Geminus dropped down into the water, making sure to keep a few yards between themselves and the island. Kendra could see a small garden on the island, in the center of which was a fairy shrine.

"This water's always brisk," said Jeff, surfacing next to Raxtus. He had plunged into the water along with Raxtus, and was now drenched. He proceeded to place a hand on Raxtus' arm, as he spat some water out of his mouth. With his other arm, he pulled a sparkling conch shell out of his bag.

Jeff blew into the conch shell, which gave off a sound not unlike a pan flute.

"What's that for?" asked Bracken.

"Call whistle," said Jeff. "All the creatures here are obedient towards it. Course, it wasn't very loud, so only creatures that were nearby would've heard it. And the only creature who likes to hang out around here is.."

A large, blue figure popped out of the water near the group and let out a roar. It was a blue leviathan, much larger than the dragons, whom Kendra still recognized all too well. Mariana!

Mariana bent her head down and gazed at the group. She let out a soothing growl and nodded her head.

"Mariana," said Kendra. "It's really you!"

"You remember us, don't you?" asked Warren. "We went after Tritanoss together!"

Mariana nodded, then shook her head.

"Some of us have never met," said Bracken. "I'm Bracken and I'm a unicorn."

"I'm Geminus," said the pink dragon. "I'm a fairy dragon, just like Raxtus."

Once again, Geminus nodded her head, then shook it.

"That's right," said Bright. "Some of the group from last time aren't here. Like Clover. She's back home at Fablehaven."

"And Seth," said Kendra.

Mariana let out a loud groan, then shook her head.

"We're sorry," said Raxtus, "but Seth couldn't be here. In fact, he's the main reason we even _are_ here."

"Mariana seems really upset," said Jeff. "But why?"

Seth is the reason Mariana even entered our lives in the first place," said Kendra. "Without him, she'd probably still be stuck as a figurine in Thronis the giant's castle at Wyrmroost."

"Oh yes," said Jeff. "Your grandfather told me all about that when Mariana first came to Duskreef Lagoon."

"Even though we weren't with Mariana for a long time, she was closer to Seth than the rest of us," said Warren. "Out of all of us, Mariana was most loyal to him."

Kendra then noticed a court of glowing fairies flying out from the nearby island, towards the group.

"What's going on?" asked Geminus, as several fairies began flying around not her own body, but around everyone in the group.

"The fairies are all drawn to you folks," said Jeff. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Can't say I'm too surprised," said Bracken. "All of us have some fairy qualities. Bright and I are unicorns, Raxtus and Geminus are fairy dragons, Warren is fairystruck and Kendra is fairykind."

"Fairykind?" gasped Jeff. "That's incredible! The fairies of Duskreef Lagoon have never come too close to anyone before. Now they've taken an immediate shine to you outsiders, even though they're normally asleep at this hour. Amazing."

"What's the connection between Mariana and the fairies?" asked Kendra, as a violet fairy gave her a small peck on her cheek.

"Well, Mariana's not like the other leviathans here at Duskreef Lagoon. She's very timid, and doesn't really socialize with the other creatures much at all. It could be that the fairies here respect her for having worked with your fairy friends before coming here."

Mariana was really sad when we had to part ways with her," said Warren. "It could be that she misses Seth more than anybody."

"And Seth's the one person who can't be here," said Bracken. "That's just... _great_."

"You'll still help us," said Kendra. "Please?"

"If you help us, we might have what we need to ensure that Seth gets rescued," said Bright.

Mariana nodded.

"That's great," said Jeff.

"Is Mariana even up for all of this?" asked Raxtus. "I mean, it's late for her, and this whole thing must seem like a spur of the moment situation for her."

Mariana nodded.

"Hey, we're talking about helping out Seth here," said Warren. "Of course Mariana wants to help!"

Mariana nodded again, splashing her tail against the water in delight.

"Looks like Mariana's more than enthusiastic to help you out as soon as possible!" said Jeff. "If you don't mind, I'd like to see to it that Mariana is prepared to go off with you folks."

Jeff then climbed onto Mariana's back, then pointed across the water. "This way, everybody!"

With Jeff on her back, Mariana swam off. Raxtus and Geminus followed her, bringing with them their riders. They soon arrived at another small island, where a large, round net had been set up in the water.

"What's this place?" asked Kendra.

"Duskreef Lagoon's own fishery," said Jeff. "The creatures aren't allowed near it, but I gave special clearance to Mariana earlier. "Wait here!"

Jeff disembarked Mariana, ran onto the island and entered a small building made out of wood. He returned a minute later wheeling a large cart containing a tank full of swimming fish.

"Eat up, Mariana!"

As the tank was at the water's edge, Mariana bent her head down and proceeded to stick her snout into it, slurping up and chomping away at the fish that were inside.

"How can anyone eat raw fish like that?" asked Warren, squinting his eyes.

"I thought you _loved _sushi," said Kendra, smirking at her cousin.

"Yeah, well at least sushi is already cut up. And it's not alive. Plus it comes with soy sauce and wasabi."

A moment later, Mariana removed her dripping snout from the tank. All that was Kendra could see in the tank was some water; all the fish were now gone.

"Good girl, Mariana," said Jeff, patting the massive leviathan on her wet snout. "Now that you've eaten an early breakfast, I'd say you're good and ready to go. Excuse me for a moment, please!"

Jeff wheeled the tank back into the building, then came back out. "I guess this is it. If you don't mind, could I get a lift back to my house?"

Mariana nodded, then gestured with her tail for Jeff to get back on her backside. Jeff hopped aboard, and soon Mariana began sailing across the lagoon, heading in the direction of the island that Jeff's house was on.

Raxtus and Geminus followed Mariana's lead, and in no time they had stopped at the island with the house. Jeff then jumped down off of Mariana and onto the shore of his island. The others all landed or dismounted next to Jeff.

"Well, then, I guess this is goodbye for now, Mariana. You go off with your friends, they need you more than I do right now."

Mariana nodded.

"We're not going to be gone for too long," said Kendra. "You'll be back here before you know it!"

"Well, I wish you all the best of luck," said Jeff, as he stopped to cover his yawning mouth with his hand. "I've gotta get back to bed after this. I've got work in the morning!"

"Thank you so much for everything," said Warren, as he removed the Translocator from his bag. "Okay, Mariana. Just place the tip of your tail on this thing, and we'll be off to Lake Superior in the blink of an eye."

Mariana looked confused, but complied with Warren's request nonetheless. Soon, everybody but Jeff was making some form of contact with the Translocator.

"Bye, Jeff!" said everyone in the group, as the Translocator began pulling them all through its warping procedure.

Just as soon as Duskreef Lagoon vanished from sight, the middle of Lake Superior appeared before them. The buoy that was floating in the water served as their point of reference.

"Going from the middle of the night to broad daylight can be pretty startling," said Bracken, releasing his hand from the Translocator and patting Kendra on her back.

"The difference is like night and day," said Warren. "You okay, Mariana?"

Mariana nodded.

"So, all that's left... We just need to go down to the Floodmaze from here," said Kendra. "Does that mean?"

Warren nodded.

"Don't tell me," said Geminus.

"We're becoming merfolk again," said Bright. "I had a feeling."

"Well, it really is the most practical way for us to go diving underwater like this," said Warren. "And besides, you and Clover were the ones who came up with the idea the first time."

"This should be interesting," said Bracken.

"Hold my hand," said Bright, as she leapt off of Geminus and fluttered between the two dragons.

Bracken flew up next to Bright and grabbed her right hand with his left. Using their free hands, the two fairies produced a vibrant rainbow-colored ball.

Before Kendra could say anything, a beam of energy shot out of the ball and hit her. She could feel as clothes simultaneously dissolved into her body, leaving nothing but a seashell brazier while her legs transformed into a rainbow-hued tail.

Unable to keep her balance, Kendra slipped off of Raxtus' backside and plummeted into the water. The cold temperature didn't bother Kendra. Instead, the instinct of being a mermaid quickly came rushing back to her. As Kendra emerged from the water, she was that Warren had also undergone a similar transformation, and was sporting a green tail like he had back during the Tritanoss expedition.

Lastly, Bright and Bracken used their power to transform themselves into merfolk. Bright's tail was rainbow-hued as well, while Bracken's was silvery white.

"This feels odd," said Bracken, sticking his tail out of the water and flapping his fins.

"Well, I can't argue with your scales," said Geminus.

"Everyone ready?," asked Warren. "Let's get moving!"


	19. Girl Trouble

**Chapter 19: Girl Trouble**

A fair amount of time had passed since Seth and the grungy-looking girl had been locked up in the holding cell, not too far away from the throne room in Murdred's castle. Due to the cold reception she had given him when he first made an attempt to speak with her, Seth had opted to not say anything more for the time being.

Regardless, Seth had many questions for this girl. Who was she? What was her story? What was her name? From what Seth could tell, she had been captured accidentally by the adlets when they had travelled to the mortal world to gather an assortment of immoral humans to use for that elixir that Helwic had spoken of.

That elixir was not something Seth was looking forward to. If Helwic had been speaking the truth, then this elixir supposedly had the power to alter the very way that Seth's brain even worked. If he were to drink it, he'd truly turn evil. This would **not** be a case of something taking control of his mind; it would be actual manipulation.

Seth wasn't looking forward to drinking the elixir. It was bad enough that human beings were a primary ingredient, its actual purpose was even worse. If he was going to forced to drink the elixir, would Seth even have the free will to act against its influence and avoid turning evil? Fighting it seemed inevitable, like trying to maintain his normal size after consuming a shrinking potion.

And what would happen if Seth were to drink the elixir and turn evil? According to what he'd been told, Murdred would join forces with him, seize his power and use it to invade the mortal world. Whether anybody had the power or not to stand up to Murdred if he were to enter the moral world was uncertain, but Seth didn't exactly want to find out.

Seth needed to get out of here right away. Even if he couldn't escape from the Demon Domain, at least finding his way out of Murdred's castle would be an improvement. He couldn't contemplate about actually drinking the elixir; Seth would rather commit suicide than stay around and actually drink the brew. If he were to become evil, Seth would then be willing to go along with whatever nefarious plans that Murdred might dream up.

Knowing that escaping from this room was impossible, Seth's only real outlet was this new girl. He knew that if he were attempt to make conversation with her, she would probably just yell at him, given that she had chosen to remain in the corner the entire time thus far.

Seth got up from the wall he had been sitting against and walked over towards the girl. She noticed that he was approaching her, but kept her head down the entire time. As Seth neared her, he noticed that the girl smelled rather foul, as though she hadn't washed herself in days.

"Can we talk?" asked Seth.

"What do you care?" asked the girl, keeping her head turned down as she spoke.

"I'm just trying to make conversation while we're still _alive_."

"I really don't care," snapped the girl.

"You don't care about getting eaten by those adlets?" asked Seth.

"Adlets?"

"Um, those bears," said Seth, remembering that the girl had presumably never had any magical milk.

"Let them. I said I don't care."

"Why don't you care?" asked Seth.

"Because my life _sucks_! So shut up and stop asking me all these stupid questions."

Seth took in a deep breath, then stomped his foot down on the floor. "Listen to me! We need to get out of here now, or we'll both be as good as dead! So cool it!"

"We're locked in, stupid. But if you've got any ideas as to get us out of here, I'm open to suggestions."

"Can you at least tell me your name? Mine's Seth."

"It's Ingrid. You happy?"

"Okay, Ingrid," said Seth. "Um, may I ask why you're in such a grumpy mood?

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Don't you at least want to go home?"

Ingrid cringed.

"Look, your home can't be any worse than this place."

"I don't have a home, all right?" blared Ingrid.

"No home?"

"My parents lost our home when they couldn't pay their mortgage. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Seth's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry."

"That's what everyone tells me. But do all of those apologies keep me off the streets at night? No!"

"Look, even if you don't have a home, you should at least try to get back to see your parents."

"My parents are dead. If I really did want to see them again, the best way to do that would be to die myself."

"Why don't you live in a foster home or anything?" asked Seth.

"The last thing I need is to be living in some complete stranger's home, putting up with all of their stupid crap."

"Look, I know somebody who lives in a foster home," said Seth, thinking of his friend Lance. "His foster parents and foster brother are actually really nice, and..."

"Would you just shut up?"

"Okay," said Seth, holding up his hands, not wanting to dwell on Ingrid's situation any further. "I think I've heard enough. I'll tell you about myself instead."

"I'm not interested," said Ingrid, turning her head away from Seth.

"Look, home or no home, wherever you're living in the mortal world can't be half as bad as this place."

"What do you mean by _mortal world_?" asked Ingrid. "What's this place even?

"Well, if you'd let me explain everything for moment, I could tell you. "Where we are now is essentially another dimension. A world inhabited by monsters known as the Demon Domain."

Ingrid rolled her eyes. "Look, this whole experience has been really weird. I mean, talking bears? Demon Domain? You expect me to believe that?"

"Believe what you want to believe," said Seth. "But I'm not telling you any lies. Where we are now is very real."

"So what's your story? How'd y_ou_ get locked up in this place?"

"Well, Murdred wants to use me to increase his power and take over our world. I declined his offer, so he locked me up."

"And how could _you_ possibly increase his power?" asked Ingrid.

"Because I'm a shadow charmer," said Seth.

"Shadow charmer? What's that supposed to mean?"

"As long as we're doomed anyway, I'll tell you. I have limited control over darkness."

Ingrid snorted. "Sure you do."

"Oh yeah?" asked Seth. He then closed his eyes partway and used to powers to make the room suddenly turn pitch black.

"Whoa!" gasped Ingrid. "How'd you do that? This is a trick, isn't it?"

Seth focused, allowing a small amount of light to return to the room. He could see that Ingrid was looking around the room, trying to locate Seth.

"Hey, where'd you go?"

"I'm right here," said Seth, knowing full well that he was currently invisible to Ingrid.

Seth then reached his hand forward and tapped Ingrid on her shoulder.

"Hey!" gasped Ingrid, reaching for Seth's invisible, missing it just as he pulled away. Seth then took a few soft steps over to the side.

"Now I'm over here!" said Seth, drawing Ingrid's attention to his new location.

"How do you do this?"

"I told you," said Seth, allowing light to fully return to the room, rendering himself visible again, "I'm a shadow charmer? Or do you _still_ not believe me?"

"Okay!" gasped Ingrid. "I believe you! Wow! But, if you're so powerful, why can't you get us out of this room?"

"My power doesn't work that way," said Seth. "I didn't want to reveal it to you like that, but you wouldn't listen to reason."

"I'm sorry," said Ingrid. "But you've done nothing to improve our situation."

"Look, I just want to get out of here, find Sarah and get out of here."

"Sarah?" asked Ingrid. "Who's she?"

"Another shadow charmer."

"I see... Look, if escaping from here is impossible, why should we even bother?"

"Because, no matter how bad things might be, you can't give up hope," said Seth.

"I gave up on hope a long time ago," said Ingrid. "Waste of time and effort is all it is."

A moment later, the door to the room suddenly swung open.

"No!" gasped Seth, who was too afraid to be able to concentrate and use his power to darken the room.

"Excuse me," said Sarah, who was standing in the doorway. "But I thought you'd be a little more enthusiastic to see me."

"Sarah!" gasped Seth, running up to the fellow shadow charmer and giving her a hug. "Oh, I am _so_ happy to see you! How'd you get up here anyway?"

"I'll tell you everything," said Sarah, "but let's just get out of this place right now. A sentry might spot us!"

"Okay," said Seth. "You come too, Ingrid."

"Who is _she_?" asked Sarah, looking over at Ingrid, who was still squatting against the wall.

"I could ask the same about you," said Ingrid.

"Never mind that," said Seth. "Sarah's giving us the chance to get out of this place! You can stay here if you insist, but I'm leaving!"

"Fine," muttered Ingrid, following Seth and Sarah out into the hallway.

"How'd you get out of the dungeon?" asked Seth, as he and Ingrid followed Sarah's lead down the hallway.

"Not so loud," said Sarah in a near whisper. "Murdred or his follows might hear us. But to answer your question, Xeero came to my cell earlier to check on me. Since he was alone, I was able to use my power against him, and I used him to escape. But I wasn't going to leave you behind, wherever you were. I ditched Xeero to be safe, and went looking for you."

The group made it to the staircase that lead down to the lower floors of the castle. Looking around, Seth, Sarah, nor Ingrid could make heads or tails of any guards within the vicinity.

"It's a miracle you didn't get caught," said Seth, as the group proceeded down the stairs. "How'd you get the door my room open, anyway?"

"Well," replied Sarah, "I didn't know where you could've been, so I was left with no choice but to explore the castle on my own, trying to find you. At one point I found _this_,"

Sarah then held up what looked like a silver rod, roughly the size of a ruler.

"I've seen that before," said Seth. "Demoric used it to open a portal to the mortal world."

"Exactly," said Sarah. "It must belong to either Helwic or Demoric. With this thing, the negafae have been able to breach our world. It seems to have other powers as well."

"So, use it to get us out of here already," said Ingrid.

"I'm not really sure how it works," said Sarah, observing the wand in her hands. "It took a lot of attempt for me to even get it to open the door to your room."

"Try anything!" said Seth, as they continued to march down the stairs.

"Let's just get away from Murdred first," said Sarah. "The last thing we need is for him or one of his followers to catch us, just because we were sitting around trying to figure out a way to get out of this place."

"Wait," said Seth. "How are we supposed to get out of here, anyway? Remember, Sarah? There's a sentry guarding the front door to this place!"

Sarah stopped to think. "If he's alone, hopefully I can take him. I mean, I was still able to take control of Xeero when he came down for me, since he was alone that time. Thankfully, the dungeon sentry allowed Xeero to escort me out of there. If he hadn't been so foolish, I might not have even had the power to get out of the dungeon."

"What's worse is that I _still_ need to see to it that Murdred gets destroyed," said Seth. "Which means I'll have to come back here _again_, with an even _better_ plan."

"Who cares about Murdred?" asked Ingrid. "If we even do get out of this place, you couldn't pay me to come back here."

"Look, it's complicated," said Seth, as they at last reached the first floor of the castle. "But this whole thing is my problem."

"Somebody say something about _problems_?" asked a raspy voice.

Seth, Sarah and Ingrid all turned around and looked back up the stairs, where they saw Xipp, Xeero and Xillch standing at the top of the nearest landing.

"Oh no!" gasped Seth.

"What are you brats doing outside of your cells?" asked Xillch.

"Sarah!" said Seth. "Do something. Anything!"

Sarah held up the wand she was holding and aimed it at the adlets. Her entire arm trembling with fear, she managed to shoot a bolt of red lightning out of the wand and zapped all three adlets with it. The impact of the bolt knocked the adlets off of their hind feet and onto the floor of the landing.

"What was that?" asked Ingrid, as the adlets began to climb up onto their four feet.

"I don't know," squealed Sarah. "But whatever it was... **run for it**!"

Seth, Sarah and Ingrid and proceeded to run through the vast entry hall and towards the pair of front doors to the castle. Once they reached the closed door, Seth glanced back in time to see the adlets leaping down the first flight of stairs, landing gracefully upon the floor.

"It won't budge" muttered Seth, attempting to push one of the doors.

"Hold on," said Sarah, using the power of the wand to shoot the other door with another energy bolt.

"You can't escape!" said Xeero, as he and Xipp and Xillch darted towards the group.

Sarah, Seth and Ingrid all stood in front of the other door, just as the door that Sarah had zapped immediately flung open, smacking itself directly into Xipp, Xeero and Xillch. They could now see outside the castle, where the bridge that spanned the moat could be seen.

"Hey, what's going on here?" asked the purple warthog sentry, once Seth, Sarah and Ingrid ran through the front door and right past him, onto the bridge.

"Stop them!" growled Xipp. A moment later, Xeero and Xillch bounced their way across the long bridge, then turned around and faced Seth, Sarah and Ingrid, blocking their way off.

"End of the line!" said Xeero, as he and Xillch raised their extended claws into the air.

"Sarah!" exclaimed Seth. "We need a portal! Right now!"

"I'm trying," said Sarah, attempting to conjure something up with the wand she was holding. Xeero and Xillch slowly proceeded to march up towards the group, until Sarah aimed the wand at them, prompting them to back away.

"You too!" said Seth, looking back the other way at Xipp and the sentry. "Everyone back away, and nobody will get hurt!"

"No one orders us around except for Lord Murdred!" snapped Xipp.

"Now, Sarah!" said Seth. "Conjure up a portal now before it's too late!"

"But I told you that I don't know how!" uttered Sarah.

"You surrender now or we'll break this bridge!" blared Xillch. "Now put down the wand!"

"We are _not_ surrendering!" said Seth.

"Get the negafae," said Xipp. The sentry next to him then ran inside the castle.

"If you guys break this bridge," said Sarah, "then the shadow charmers that Murdred wanted so badly will die!"

"We'll just say that _you_ accidentally destroyed it with that stolen wand, Sarah!" retorted Xeero.

"What Murdred doesn't know won't hurt us," said Xillch, as he and Xeero began jumping up and down on the end of the bridge, causing it to quake heavily. Looking back, Seth could see that Xipp was jumping around on the other end of the bridge.

"Stop!" screamed Ingrid. "This bridge will break!"

"That's a shame," said Xipp. "I was looking real forward to eating you instead."

"I'm not going without a fight!" said Seth, as he darted across the trembling bridge where Xeero and Xillch were jumping. One adlet on its own was larger and stronger than Seth. Two were worse, but Seth didn't care. He couldn't just give up.

Sarah and Ingrid both ran after Seth. Before any of them could reach the far side, the bridge suddenly gave way, as individual stones began to crumbled into the chasm beneath them. More and more stones fell out of place, until the very ground that Seth, Sarah and Ingrid had been standing on collapsed beneath them.

The adlets leapt off their respective ends of the bridge just in time to avoid falling. Seth looked down at the chasm below, and saw that the moat of the castle was actually a vast lava pit. He, Sarah and Ingrid had all started to fall down towards the lava, which was roughly two-hundred feet beneath them with seemingly no way of avoiding it.

Ingrid screamed in horror as Seth grabbed her right wrist with his left hand, then Sarah's left wrist with his right hand.

"Please work!" shrieked Sarah, as she aimed the wand below the group in mid-fall. As the lava below started to come closer, another bolt of energy shot out of the wand and produced a black portal beneath the group. Sarah then dove into the portal, pulling Seth through with her, along with Ingrid.


	20. Floodmaze

**Chapter 20: Floodmaze**

As Kendra swam downwards towards the bottom of the lake, she could sense as the water level became deeper and deeper. Glancing back upwards, Kendra could see that the rippling surface of the water had become less visible the further she went. The buoy that had been used as an indicator was now too far away to make out.

Now that she had been transformed into a mermaid once again, Kendra was experiencing the sensation the second time over. Her legs had fused together into one sturdy tail, enabling her to swim through the water as though it was a second nature. The gills on her tail were providing Kendra's lungs with the oxygen she needed; she felt as though she was in no danger of drowning.

Around her, Warren, Bracken and Bright were merfolk as well. Along with Raxtus and Geminus, who were in their regular fairy dragon forms, and of course Mariana, they were all trying to reach the bottom of the lake.

It didn't more than two minutes before the bottom of the lake came into sight. By comparison, Kendra remembered that the Mariana Trench had been a whole lot deeper. It made Lake Superior seem more like a swimming pool than an actual body of water. So much for the largest freshwater lake in the world.

"Well, it looks like we've reached the bottom," said Bright, once they had stopped descending upon coming to the bottom of the lake, which consisted mostly of sand, rocks and seaweed.

"So, where's this whole Floodmaze supposed to be?" asked Geminus.

"This has to be the place," said Warren. "But I was pretty sure we were swimming straight down directly below the buoy the entire time."

"What information do we know about the Floodmaze beyond it's location?" asked Raxtus.

"Not much, really," said Warren. "All that note really told us was that the Floodmaze is underwater, and that we should travel to these coordinates to find it."

"You think maybe the note was a hoax?" asked Bright.

"It seems too to not be true," said Kendra. A note written in Sylvian in the possession of the Demon God? Something is definitely up with that."

"I'm not sensing a distractor spell or anything," said Raxtus. "Maybe there's a clue or something that we need to look for."

"Are you sure this is the right spot?" asked Bracken.

"We're going by the translation that Kendra wrote down," said Warren. "And according to my GPS, we set down that buoy in the exact spot where the note said the Floodmaze was located. If we're wrong, it's because the note itself was wrong."

"You guys see anything?" asked Geminus, as she began to swim around the area, combing through the seaweed and running her claw along the floor of the lake.

"Just a bunch of stupid rocks," said Warren, swimming around several large boulders. "I don't get it. The Floodmaze should be right _here_."

Mariana then swam up to one of the boulders that Warren was floating around and clenched it with her jaws. Using her immense strength, the leviathan ripped the boulder off of the floor of the lake and tossed it aside.

"What are you doing, Mariana?" asked Bright, as the leviathan hoisted a second boulder away from the group.

"Watch where you're chucking those things!" said Warren, as the boulder flew past him.

"I see something!" said Bracken, pointing at the spot where the boulders had been sitting. Kendra could see a faint, rounded outline in the sand where the boulders had been resting.

"Come on, Mariana," said Raxtus. "Get all of those boulders out of the way!"

Before long, every last boulder in the group had been tossed aside, revealing a wide, circular indentation, probably fifteen feet in diameter, on the floor of the lake, which had been partially obscured by sand.

"Good work, Mariana!" said Warren. "Um you don't mind sweeping away the sand were the boulders had been, do you?"

Mariana shook her head, then proceeded to brush away the sand with her tail. Once most of it had been cleared, Kendra could see that the large circular outline had a large, rainbow-hued crystal star set in its center.

"A star," said Kendra. "What's this all about?"

"It's a magic lock," said Bracken.

"A lock?" moaned Raxtus. "I didn't even realize we needed a key."

"We have the key," said Bracken.

"No we don't," said Warren. "What do you mean?"

"This lock can only be unlocked by fairy magic," said Bracken. "Watch."

Bracken then waved his hand, and shot a flash of white energy at the star in the center of the panel. Upon being hit, the star lit up vibrantly, and the entire circular panel vanished.

"Nice," said Kendra. "I see know why that note was written in Sylvian. Some fairies, or at least fairy-like creatures, had to have had a hand in all of this."

"Wish we knew _which_ fairies," said Bright.

"At least non-fairy creatures wouldn't be able to get inside this place with a seal like that," said Bracken.

Kendra peered down into the hole, and saw that it went directly downwards a considerable distance.

"Well, I guess this is it," said Raxtus.

"We need to be extremely cautious," said Warren. "We don't have any idea as to what could be lurking down there."

"Maybe Mariana should go first," said Bracken. "Out of all of us, she has the best chance of survival."

Mariana nodded.

"Go ahead. But not too fast. We'll follow behind."

Mariana then proceeded to swim down into the hole headfirst. Kendra then joined the rest of the group as they swam into the hole after Mariana. From what Kendra could tell, it was a deep, circular shaft, wide enough for a leviathan like Mariana to swim through with ample space for her to turn around should she wish to.

The group followed Mariana down the hole, the walls of which were lined with grey bricks. To Kendra, it felt as though they were swimming down to the bottom of a very deep well.

Before long, Mariana came to a sudden stop. Looking at her from her rear, the leviathan appeared to be unharmed.

"Mariana!" said Kendra, swimming up and past the side of the sea serpent. "What's wrong?"

"She appears to be okay," said Warren, following Kendra's lead. I don't know what appears to be the problem."

"I guess she's just as confused as we are," said Raxtus, once he had arrived next to Mariana's head. "Look at all these paths."

Indeed, the tunnel had now reached a point where it branched off in several different directions, some of which were level, others which appeared to be on inclines leading to different depths.

"Oh great," said Geminus. "Where do we go from here?"

"First we experienced the flood," said Warren. "Now here comes the maze."

"Should we split up?" asked Geminus.

"I don't know," said Warren. "Our problem is that there's six of us, but only one Mariana. The whole reason we recruited Mariana was to have her by our side in this place."

"So, which way should we go?" asked Kendra, looking around into all of the branching tunnels.

"No way to really deduce which tunnel is best," said Bright. "At this rate, we should just pick one and see where it takes us."

"Okay," said Bracken. "Mariana, you're by far the most knowledgeable about waterways. Which tunnel do you recommend?"

"I don't think she's got any better of an idea than us," said Raxtus. "Just pick any tunnel, then."

Mariana nodded, then proceeded to swim down a seemingly random tunnel. The group all followed her closely behind.

This new tunnel looked much like the previous one, only it twisted in turned an a wild array of different directions. As they were all also underwater, Kendra soon lost track of whether she was even upside-down or right-side up.

After a while, Mariana came across another intersection, which broke off into several more paths. She then came to a stop.

"This is great," said Geminus sarcastically. "Another fork in the road."

"Wouldn't surprise me if this was the same intersection as the first one." said Bracken. "We could've been going in a huge loop for all we know."

"Might as well try another path, Mariana," said Warren.

Having been paying attention to the group, Mariana turned her head forward and ventured down another, seemingly random tunnel. As with the previous tunnels, there was nothing to differentiate this one from the others.

After swimming past several more twists and turns, Mariana came to another halt, as she had yet again come across another intersection.

"This is getting us nowhere," said Raxtus. "Are we even making progress, or are we just going in circles?"

"Maybe we ought to try door number three," said Warren, crossing his arms. Kendra could sense that he was starting to get perturbed by the sound of his voice.

"What we need is a way to keep track of which tunnels we've gone down," said Kendra.

"You mean like, leave a marker of some sort?" asked Bracken.

"A waymarker," said Raxtus. "Good idea."

"What could we use to leave our mark?" asked Warren. "Hansel and Gretel used breadcrumbs, but if we tried that, they'd get all soggy in a place like this."

"We used a buoy back up on the lake," said Bracken. "But it seems a bit impractical in a place like this."

"I can just jot something down," said Bright, pointing around with her index finger. "I'm gonna pick a tunnel. No tunnel in particular. Just a random, inconspicuous tunnel."

Bright then swam up towards the entrance to one of the tunnels, but did not pass down it. Instead, she shot a small beam of energy onto a wall of the tunnel, right by the entrance. Upon hitting the wall, Bright's beam prompted a red arrow to appear on the wall, pointing down into the tunnel.

"What's that for?" asked Geminus.

"Well, if for some reason we wind up at this intersection again, we'll know that we've already been down this very tunnel."

"Good idea, sis," said Bracken.

"Okay, Mariana," said Bright. "Try this tunnel!"

Mariana proceeded to swim down the marked tunnel, and the group followed along behind her. This next tunnel only led everybody to another intersection.

"Hold it," said Bright, as she swam back into the tunnel that the group had just came out of. She then proceeded to conjured up another arrow on the wall of this tunnel. However, this arrow was pointing _out _of the tunnel, rather than back inside.

"I get it," said Kendra. "Now we'll know that we've come out through that tunnel at some point!"

"Now, we try another tunnel," said Bright, as she swam up to a different tunnel and produced an arrow on the wall, this one pointing down into the tunnel.

Mariana led the group down this next tunnel. After several more twists and turns, it led this to another intersection. Bright made sure to place an exit arrow on the tunnel they came through. However, the rest of the tunnels were all unmarked.

"We've just got to keep at it," said Bracken, as they ventured down another tunnel at random, which only led to another unmarked intersection.

Determined to not give up, Mariana led the group through several more series of tunnels and intersections. As they arrived at each intersection, the group made sure to inspect every tunnel for one of Bright's arrows.

"This isn't working!" said Warren.

"Think maybe the arrows aren't permanent for some reason?" asked Raxtus.

"They shouldn't just rub off," said Bright. "My magic is supposed to physically change the color of the bricks that I've marked."

"It could be an effect of the maze," said Bracken. "Possibly to prevent people from cheating."

"Let's go back," said Kendra. "Back through this same tunnel to the previous intersection, to see if the arrows are still there."

"Might as well," said Warren. "We aren't exactly making any progress through this method.

The group swam back into the tunnel they had emerged from, and soon arrived back at the previous intersection.

"It's still here!" said Geminus, drawing everybody's attention over to the tunnel they had just returned through. "Bright's arrow is still here!"

"And look at this!" said Bracken, who had swam over to another tunnel "The exit arrow that Bright placed on _this_ tunnel is also still here."

"We could probably trace our path back all the way to Bright's first arrow," said Warren.

"What difference does it make?" asked Raxtus. "No path we've taken seems to be any different than the others. We are lost."

"Well, what _should _we do?" asked Kendra. "We don't know how big this Floodmaze even is. And there's no way of knowing whether we're going to correct way or not."

"If only we had more information," said Bright.

"But that note," said Kendra. "Sarah said there were others in Murdred's possession. But she only managed to grab one. What if the rest of the information we need is on one of those other notes?"

"If we could so much as _get_ to Murdred's throne room," said Warren, "we wouldn't even be swimming around in this Floodmaze, because we wouldn't even have to find the Necromaster. We could just deal with Murdred right then and there."

"We've come this far," said Geminus.

"But how much _further_ do we still have left to go?" asked Raxtus.

"Beats me," said Bracken. "At this point, we should just continue to explore and see what we can find."

"Besides," said Bright. "We have the Translocator. If we get fed up with this place, we can always leave, then use it to come back later."

"In that case," said Kendra, "let's just keep trying some more tunnels."

The group then travelled back down the tunnel that they had previously returned through. From that point, they swam through several more tunnels. Just like before, they had not come across any of the previously marked paths at any of the intersections that they came across.

After a while, the group came to a new intersection, prompting Mariana to come to a stop.

"What's wrong, Mariana?" asked Kendra.

"Mariana seems to be getting tired out," said Raxtus.

"Already?" asked Kendra. "But she can traverse entire oceans with ease."

"Not physically tired," said Raxtus. "Emotionally tired. This place is getting to her. Me as well."

"There is one way to solve a maze," said Bracken. "We stick to one side of a wall and work our way around."

"Doesn't seem too feasible," said Warren. "Now only, do the tunnels all branch off in different direction, but this a three-dimensional maze. There's too many levels for that to work ideally. Besides, all these tunnels look the same."

"I have a theory," said Kendra. "Mariana, is there any logic you're going by when you pick a tunnel?"

Mariana shook her head.

"Do you feel a current leading into any of these tunnels? Perhaps one that's stronger than the others?"

Mariana waved her tail around, then turned her head towards a tunnel and nodded.

"You're saying that the water is mainly flowing into _that _tunnel?" asked Bright.

Mariana nodded in response.

"She's good," said Raxtus. "At this depth, even I can't sense the flow of the water.

"Okay, Mariana," said Kendra. "You might as well lead us through the currents and see where we wind up!"

Nodding again, Mariana swam through the tunnel, and the group followed her through.

"If Kendra's theory is correct," said Bright, "then I don't need to worry about placing more markers in these tunnels.

After arriving at the next intersection, Mariana came to a stop as she felt the water around he with her tail.

"I hope this current doesn't go on forever," said Bright.

"It shouldn't," said Warren. "So long as there's some logic to all of this, it has to have a beginning and an end."

"Too bad vaults aren't exactly fair when it comes to something like logic," said Kendra.

"Well, I see no reason why the current should be going through an endless, infinite loop," stated Warren.

"I say we just let Mariana keep on going, and see where we end up," said Bracken.

Mariana led the group through tunnel after tunnel, seemingly making no further progress than before.

"Man, nothing is working," said Warren after several more minutes. "We've gone through tunnel after tunnel after tunnel!"

"Perhaps I should go back to placing more markers?" asked Bright.

"This endless current thing, if it really is endless, makes no sense," said Raxtus.

"Mariana's only going down the tunnels that have a significant current running through them," said Bracken. "And I don't know why, but I don't think we've been through any repeat tunnels so far."

After several more minutes of swimming through tunnels, Mariana led the group down another tunnel. Unlike the previous ones, this particular tunnel seemingly went on for a far greater distance than the others before it.

"Where are we now?" asked Geminus. "This is by far the longest tunnel we've been down."

"This is either a good sign," said Warren, "or a bad sign. It could be what we're looking for. Or, it could be a trap."

At last, the group came out of the end of the tunnel. They emerged not at another intersection, but in a wide, open chamber, roughly the size of a concert hall. There did not appear to be any other tunnels leading out of the chamber, save for the one which they entered through.

"What is this place?" asked Raxtus.

Kendra swam down towards the bottom of the chamber, where she saw what appeared to be a large, round, olive green boulder resting on the floor. The width of the boulder appeared to be too wide for it to have fit through any of the tunnels.

Upon closer observation, Kendra saw what appeared to be a hole in the side of the boulder. "What's in there?" she asked, slowly swimming up to the hole. Suddenly, bubbles began to flow out of the hole.

"Get back!" exclaimed Warren, who was following directly behind Kendra.

A large, green, reptilian head poked itself out of the hole. Lunging itself forward, it attempted to snap at Kendra and Warren, who swam back in time to avoid getting chomped.

"I think we found the guardian of this place," said Bright warily.

The massive turtle stuck out its limbs. Instead of legs, four large, serpentine creatures swam out through the other openings in the shell. As the creatures turned to face the group, Kendra could see electricity crackling across their bodies.

"Make that _guardians_," said Warren.


	21. Turtle Recall

**Chapter 21: Turtle Recall**

Kendra, Warren, Bracken, Bright, Raxtus and Geminus all gazed in awe at the four serpentine creatures, presumably enormously-sized electric eels of some nature, as they emerged from the shell of the gargantuan turtle that lay on the floor of the vast chamber.

"What are we going to-" began Kendra, only to stop talking as the eels all charged towards the group. Everybody swam off in different directions just to avoid getting electrocuted by one of the eels.

"We can't attack them physically," said Raxtus, swimming in circles, trying to evade the eel that was nearing in on him. It was roughly three to four times the length of the fairy dragon's body.

"Warren," said Kendra, "let's use our swords!"

"Let's not," said Warren, who was trying to swim away from one of the other eels. "Metal swords and electric eels do _not _mix."

Bracken screamed, drawing the rest of the groups' attention. An eel had successfully charged at him, and had wrapped itself around his body, releasing more and more electricity into his body.

"No!" shrieked Kendra, who didn't know what she could do to save her friend.

Mariana lunged at the eel that had constricted Bracken and sunk her teeth into its body. The eel released its grasp on Bracken, only to unleash a massive electrical surge upon Mariana.

"Mariana!" screamed Kendra, as one of the other eels began to pursue her, chasing her to the entrance to the chamber. Unable to focus, Kendra immediately swam out through the entry tunnel, with the eel hot on her tail.

Kendra swam as fast as her fins could carry her, as she was fighting against a current that was pushing against her. Fortunately, the eel had to contend with it as well.

Not letting herself give in, Kendra pushed forward until she made it to the upcoming intersection. She quickly dove into the nearest tunnel, then stopped to catch her breath. Feeling as her gills took in air and pumped oxygen into her lungs, Kendra watched as the pursuing eel, who failed to notice her, erroneously swam down another tunnel.

A moment later, once Kendra had finally caught her breath, she saw Warren emerge from the previous tunnel. She then swam out into the intersection to meet him.

"Kendra," said Warren, who seemed startled by her presence. "You startled me. I though you were that eel. Except you're too pretty."

Kendra blushed. However, she then saw a second eel swimming up through the tunnel that led to the turtle's chamber.

"Warren!" gasped Kendra, as the second eel approached.

"We've got double trouble," said Warren, directing Kendra's attention to the tunnel that the first eel had swam through. It was now swimming back towards them.

"Let's get out of here!"

Warren grabbed Kendra's hand and together, the two of them swam down another tunnel. Looking back, Kendra could see that the two eels were both swimming after them through the tunnel. They soon reached the next intersection.

"This way," said Warren, pulling Kendra into a seemingly random tunnel. Kendra glanced back and saw that the two eels were still following them through this next tunnel.

"Oh no!" cried Kendra, as the eels pursued herself and Warren, electricity visibly surging through their bodies."

"We can't stop them!" exclaimed Warren. "I'm sorry you got stuck with me, Kendra. I am by far he least powerful member of our group!"

"But you've always been clever! Maybe you can outwit the eels?"

"How? By challenging them to Trivial Pursuit?"

Kendra and Warren soon arrived at the next intersection, but were uncertain as to which tunnel they should swim through next.

"We'll never outrun these guys!" said Kendra.

"We _could_ escape using the Translocator," said Warren, as they swam down another tunnel. "But I've got the feeling we need to eliminate these eels in order to proceed."

"If our weapons are ineffective, what _can_ we use?" asked Kendra. "But we have to do something!"

Warren reached into his bag and pulled out a corked vial. "Maybe this will work."

Soon the reached the next intersection, and Warren let go of Kendra's hand.

"I need you to distract the other eel," said Warren. "Keep it busy, but don't leave the area!"

As the two eels emerged from the tunnel, Kendra began swimming away from Warren, drawing the attention of one of the eels. As it chased her around the room, Kendra watched as the other one went after Warren.

Warren uncorked the vial that he was holding, allowing the purple content that was inside to flow out into the water around him. Remaining perfectly still, Warren waited as the other eel swam up towards him and began chomping madly, revealing that it had sharp teeth.

Warren quickly zipped away from the attacking eel, just as it swallowed a mess of the potion that Warren had uncorked from the vial. It then continued to chase Warren around the room, as the other eel still pursued Kendra.

"Come on," said Warren, who was swimming around the intersection in circles.

Suddenly, the eel that had consumed the potion began shrinking down in size. Still trying to avoid the other eel, Kendra watched as the victim eel shrank down, until it was only a few feet in length, roughly the size of a king cobra.

Eyeing the eel, Warren drew his sword from his bag, then wielded it in one hand, He then slashed it down towards the eel, slicing its entire body in half. As Warren's sword made contact with the eel, Kendra noticed Warren's body taking a considerable jolt of energy.

"Got it!" said Warren, drawing his sword away from the bloody eel corpse.

"Now do the other one!" exclaimed Kendra. The eel had now slowed down, now that it had two targets to deal with.

"That was my only shrinking potion," said Warren.

"Any other potions?" asked Kendra.

"None that would help," said Warren, as the eel proceeded to lunge at him, no doubt in retaliation over its fallen kin.

Kendra and Warren continued evading the eel. Fortunately for them, their merfolk bodies were quite speedy within the water. As humans, they could never outmaneuver that massive creature.

"We've got to get out of here!" gasped Kendra.

"Not when there's this eel we still need to deal with."

"We can't outswim it forever! My legs... uh... tail is tarting to get sore."

"If we warp out of here, we'll lose the eel in the maze," said Warren.

"That's good," said Kendra.

"We need to defeat it..." said Warren. "So we'll just take have to take it with us!"

Warren whipped out the Translocator and twisted it, then held it out for Kendra to touch.

"What are you doing?"

"Just hold on!"

As Kendra and Warren floated on the spot while grasping the Translocator, the eel stopped and glared at them. It then proceeded to charge directly towards towards them.

"Warren!" shrieked Kendra, as the electrical monster charged directly towards her.

"Now!" said Warren, just as the eel made contact with him and Kendra. The moment it hit them, Kendra could see nothing but a massive white flash, as electricity surged all through her body.

A moment later, the electrical shock ended, and the bright flash faded. Kendra saw that she was no longer underwater, but on the ground in a forest somewhere. Warren and the eel were on the ground next to her.

"Warren," said Kendra, finding herself unable to stand up because of her tail, "where are we?"

"We're back at Fablehaven," said Warren, watching as the large eel flailed around on the ground.

"Why?"

"Well, eels are fish. By removing it from the water, it won't survive for very long out here."

"But why are we in this forest?"

Before Warren could answer, Kendra could hear massive footsteps in the distance, causing the ground to shake in a tremor.

"Fog giant," said Warren. "When he sees that eel lying around here, he'll be pretty satisfied we brought him something to eat."

Kendra couldn't help but smile. By using his brain, Warren had devised a way to get the eel killed without actually having to fight it.

"It's getting closer!" said Kendra, who could feel as the tremors started to get stronger.

"Then let's get back to the Floodmaze! Before that fog giant decides to have some merfolk for a side dish to go with that eel!"

Still holding onto the Translocator, Kendra watched as Warren twisted it. It then pulled them through, returning both herself and Warren back into the watery depths of the Floodmaze.

Back in the aquatic vault, Kendra and Warren found themselves in the chamber where they had found the turtle. Bracken, Bright, Raxtus and Geminus were all still there, and still appeared to be alive.

"Kendra!" gasped Bracken. "Warren! What happened?"

"Long story," stated Warren. "But we beat the two eels that went after us!"

"Really?" exclaimed Geminus. "That's pretty impressive. We just defeated the other two, and they gave put up a real fight, even though there were four of us."

"Are you all okay?" asked Kendra.

"We're fine," said Bright. "Nothing a bit of our own magic couldn't fix."

"Well, the four eels are gone," said Warren. "Last one should be dead any moment now."

"That just leaves the main head of the turtle," said Raxtus, pointing down at the huge, limbless turtle that lay on the floor of the chamber.

"We can't get near it," said Geminus. "If you try to get close to that thing, it'll snap at you."

"And if you try to use magic on it," said Bright, it just hides in its shell, which seems to be magic-proof."

Warren small closer to the turtle, only for its head to lash out at him. Barely missing Warren, it was no larger than the heads of the eels.

"Whoa!" gasped Warren, narrowly avoiding the turtle. "I think that thing's not a turtle, but rather a fifth eel! But, being the main head, this poor guy won't come out of his shell."

"Well," began Raxtus, "without limbs, that turtle... I mean eel, is a sitting duck."

"We may not be able to hurt it," said Bracken, "but with that shell weighing it down, it can't hurt us."

Kendra then noticed that the large shell was slowly starting to rotate in a circular manner. "Um, what's it doing?"

The shell started spinning faster and faster, almost like a top. Suddenly, the spinning shell rose up off the floor of the chamber, then charged towards the group at a high speed.

"Look out!" shrieked Bright, as everybody scrambled to get away from the shell.

"It's fast!" gasped Warren, as the shell backed up and slammed into Raxtus. Still spinning violently, it had the fairy dragon pinned against a wall.

"Raxtus!" cried Geminus.

Mariana lunged at the spinning shell and clamped it together with her teeth. She successfully stopped it from spinning, but Kendra could tell that it was still trying to move. It was as though a fan couldn't spin its blades despite being turned on, because something was physically holding them in place.

"I'm all right," said Raxtus, swimming away from the wall. His impact with the wall had actually left a small indentation within the bricks.

Mariana appeared to be struggling with the shell. Despite the fact that it was no longer spinning, the turtle did appear to be putting up a fierce fight, as she could not keep her head still.

"I don't think Mariana can hold that turtle forever!" said Kendra.

"We need a plan," said Warren.

"But that shell is impenetrable," said Bracken.

"Warren," said Kendra, "what other potions do you have?"

Warren hastily foraged through his pouch. "I've got a growth potion, a strength potion and a gaseous potion."

"I got it!" exclaimed Bright. "Give Mariana the strength potion!"

"It wouldn't work on a creature her size."

"The shrinking potion worked on that eel!"

"It _was_ significantly smaller than" said Bracken.

"What if _I_ drank the strength potion?" asked Raxtus. "Maybe then I could break open that stupid shell."

"The strength potion is formulated for humans," said Warren, "it wouldn't do much for a dragon."

"I've got it," said Kendra. "Warren, you claim that the turtle head is actually an eel, right?"

"I think so."

"Then maybe its not physically attached to the shell."

"What are you getting at?" asked Bright.

"Warren, try feeding the gaseous potion to the eel."

"What good'll that do?" asked Warren.

"Just try it," said Kendra.

"Okay," said Warren, "Mariana, I need you to try and keep the turtle in one spot. Can you manage?"

Still holding the shell within her mouth, Mariana roared, then pushed the shell down to the floor of the chamber, holding it in place. Even from a distance, Kendra could see that the shell was still wriggling around.

"Here goes," said Warren, as he swam down towards the shell, potion vial in hand.

As Warren approached the head of the shell, the eel within it poked itself out and snapped at it again. Keeping his distance, Warren uncorked the vial and allowed the contents within it to flow out into the water.

Warren taunted the eel again, prompting it to stick itself out and snap in his direction. As with the other eel, it proceeded to chomp away at the potion that was floating around in the water.

"Please work," said Kendra under her breath, while keeping her distance.

Everyone waited for a moment, then watched as the eel's solid body underwent a transformation into a gaseous state. At the same time, the shell that Mariana was still holding down in her jaws had stopped moving around.

"Well, that _did_ stop the shell from moving," said Raxtus.

"We're not done yet," said Kendra. "Mariana, shake that eel out of its shell."

Acknowledging Kendra's request, Mariana held up the shell, then proceeded to recklessly shake it around back in forth. The gaseous eel then slipped out of the shell, its entire body now fully exposed.

"That did it!" said Bracken.

"We need to wait for that potion to wear off before we can attack the eel," said Kendra. "In the meantime, let's make sure that it doesn't get back into the shell."

"Leave it to us," said Bright. "Mariana, please drop the shell."

Mariana let out a light roar, then opened her mouth, allowing the shell to fall back down onto the floor.

A moment later, the gaseous eel suddenly reverted back into its proper solid state. Now naked without its shell, electricity started to surge all over its body. It appeared to be furious.

"It's still too powerful for us to take out," said Warren.

"We did manage to take out two of the other eels without help," said Geminus. "Watch us stop this one!"

Geminus then placed her claw upon Raxtus. Using her power, a brilliant pink aura appeared around both herself and Raxtus.

"_This_ will shield us from that thing's electricity," said Raxtus, as he and Geminus each swam around to one side of the eel.

The two fairy dragons dove directly into the eel on opposite sides. The eel unleashed electrical blasts in an attempt to ward off the dragons, but it proved to be ineffective. As this was going on, Raxtus and Geminus used their claws to rip through the eel's skin and inner flesh.

A moment after blood started flowing out from the eel, Raxtus and Geminus both back off from the fish. No longer moving, its bloody carcass began to float up towards the top of the chamber.

"You did it!" said Bright. "You stopped the last eel!"

"That was all of them?" asked Bracken. "The dragons defeated two of the other eels before this one, so that's three."

"I killed one of the others by shrinking it," said Warren. "And the other one got transported to a fog giant back at Fablehaven. No way it's still alive now."

"I can't wait to hear _that_ story," said Bracken, unable to hide a smirk.

Kendra looked around the chamber, trying to figure out what they should do next.

"This was the guardian of the vault, was it not?" asked Kendra.

"I hope it was," said Raxtus. "This room is a dead end otherwise, and I really don't want to have to taken on anything significantly stronger than this turtle eel thing."

"The shell!" said Kendra. "Maybe there's something inside the shell!"

Kendra swam down towards the fallen shell. With no more eels alive to protect it, she could see the massive shell for what it truly was. Each of its five holes were large enough for even for Raxtus or Geminus to slip through.

Kendra went into one of the holes. It was quite cavernous inside, although it came as no surprise, given that those five eels all shared the shell as their home.

Kendra then noticed something glimmering on the floor of the shell. It appeared to be triangular in shape, and was giving off a vibrant blue hue. Intrigued, Kendra swam down towards the object.

Picking it up, Kendra saw that she was now holding some sort of treasure. The triangular object she held was roughly one foot long, with a sapphire embedded in its center. Although shaped like an equilateral triangle, one side of the object curved inwards.

Kendra then swam out of the shell through a hole, where the rest of the group was waiting for her.

"Is that it?" asked Warren, looking at the object which Kendra had retrieved. "Did you find the Necromaster?"

"I... I guess," said Kendra. "Is _this_ what the Necromaster is supposed to be?"

"Wish I knew," said Warren.

"It has to be the Necromaster," said Raxtus. "I mean, why wouldn't it be?"

"Whatever this is," said Warren, "it doesn't exactly have _malicious tool of destruction_ written all over it."

"It's still quite a find," said Bracken. "Let's just get this thing back to Fablehaven and have it examined further."

"I'm with you," said Kendra.

"All right," said Warren, pulling out the Translocator. "We got what we came for. Let's go home!"


	22. Converging Paths

**Chapter 22: Converging Paths**

Falling down from the collapsing bridge and towards the moat of lava that surrounded Murdred's castle, Seth could feel as his heart skipped a beat. Before he could even so much as react to the situation, Sarah had managed to open a portal beneath them, which she, him and Ingrid all plummeted into.

Seth flew out through the other end of the portal and crashed onto a field of grass somewhere. He found his entire body sliding along the grass for several feet, due to the momentum he had built up from falling into the portal.

Sarah and Ingrid had also undergone a similar experience. As they all got up onto their feet, Seth could see that both of the girls had stained the front of their clothes with grass and mud streaks. Looking down at himself, Seth had also dirtied up his clothes.

"Where are we?" asked Ingrid.

"I don't know," said Seth, looking around at his surroundings. They appeared to be in a field somewhere in the mortal world, trees and small mountains visible in the distance. Behind him, he could see the open portal that the three of them had passed through. "Sarah, the portal! Close it before those adlets come after us!"

"Right!" exclaimed Sarah, as she darted over to the portal and began to wave her wand around frantically. After a few seconds of struggling, some sort of energy shot out of the wand and hit the portal, prompting it to seal up.

"Whew!" gasped Seth. "We're safe now!"

"Are we back in our world now?" asked Ingrid.

"Looks like it," said Sarah, examining her surroundings.

"Thank you," said Seth. "Once again I owe you one!"

Seth proceeded to pat Sarah on her back. She turned her head and revealed a guilty smile. Ingrid simply turned her head away and sighed.

"You should be thankful to Sarah," said Seth. "She just saved all of us! Would you have rather been eaten by the adlets?"

Ingrid rolled her eyes. "No. Just forget it."

"Well, I may have gotten us back to our world," said Sarah. "But I haven't got a clue as to _where _in our world we ended up."

"How did you end up in this forest?" asked Seth.

"Couldn't tell you. I just focused on a portal using the wand. I couldn't really focus as we were falling. Even if I knew how."

"Well, we're out of the Demon Domain. That's a huge improvement. In fact, I'll just call home on my phone, figure out where we actually, and we'll be fine!"

Seth reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. It still had some power left in it, for he was able to turn it on. He then thumbed through the menu and auto-dialled the phone home at Fablehaven. He held it up to his ear, expecting to hear ringing on the other end.

"We're sorry," said a prerecorded female voice on Seth's phone. "But you are currently not within range of a valid service area. Please try again later."

Grumbling, Seth hung up, put away his phone and explained what had happened to Sarah and Ingrid.

"Great," said Ingrid. "Just great! We're stranded God-knows-where and we can't even contact anyone!"

"Wherever we are," said Sarah, "at least it's not the Demon Domain. Be thankful for that."

"Look," said Seth. "We don't have much choice right now. We've got to find civilization so that we can call for help."

"So where is this _civilization_?"

"Not here," replied Sarah. "We've just got to set out and look for something. Wherever it may be. Let's go."

"Can't you just use that wand to open another portal?" asked Ingrid.

"It would probably just lead back to the Demon Domain," said Sarah. "And I've had enough of that place."

"Me too," added Seth. "Let's just explore this place and see where we end up.

Seth proceeded to walk off, accompanied by Sarah.

"Hey," said Ingrid, running to catch up with the two shadow charmers. "Wait up!"

* * *

Having just been at the bottom of the Floodmaze, Kendra once again felt the sensation of being pulled out of the sub-aquatic labyrinth by way of the Translocator. Just like the previous time, Kendra found herself reemerging on dry land.

"Nice!" said Raxtus, as everybody let go of the Translocator. "We're back at Fablehaven."

Indeed, the Translocator had brought the group back to Fablehaven. However, they had arrived in the front yard, rather than somewhere within the fog giants' territory.

"Woops," said Warren, who, along with the rest of the merfolk, was still stuck on the ground due to the fact that he still possessed a tail. "We've got a big problem here."

"Our tails?" asked Bright. "Not a problem. Bracken and I will restore everyone."

"No, I mean a really big problem."

"How big?" asked Bracken.

Warren pointed behind Bright and Bracken, prompting the two fairy merfolk to turn their heads around. Looming behind them was Mariana, who by far towered over the rest of the group.

"Mariana!" said Kendra. "Are you okay?"

Mariana let out a roar, then nodded her head.

"A leviathan like her can't move around on land," said Geminus, flying up towards Mariana's face. "She isn't like a snake."

"My bad," said Warren, as he held up the Translocator. "Come on, Mariana, I'll take you home."

Mariana turned her head away from the others and looked over at the nearby house. She then let out a small wail. Meanwhile, Bright and Bracken held their hands together and used their powers to unleash a rainbow wave at Kendra and Warren, restoring the two of them to their human forms, as well as the fairies themselves.

"Nice to be back on my feet again," said Warren, now fully clothed as he stood up off of the ground. "Let's go, Mariana!"

Mariana shook her head.

"What's the matter?" asked Bracken. "Don't you want to go home to Duskreef Lagoon?"

Mariana let out another groan and shook her again again.

"Come on," said Warren. "All aboard the Translocator Express!"

"She must want something," said Kendra, as the rest of her family marched out of the house.

"Welcome back!" said Grandpa, who was smiling, along with the others.

"Incredible!" said Dale, looking up at Mariana. "I've never seen a leviathan in person before! But mainly because we don't have the space for one on this preserve. What's she doing here?"

"It was an accident," said Warren. "I offered to take her home, but Mariana doesn't want to go."

Mariana looked down at the rest of the family and started moaning.

"What does she want?" asked Clover.

"Seth!" exclaimed Kendra. "She wants to see Seth. Mariana, we told you, we needed your help just to get the Necromaster, so that we could use its power to rescue Seth."

"So, you got the Necromaster then?" asked Grandpa.

Kendra held up the aforementioned relic, showing it off for everybody to see.

"That's incredible!" exclaimed Grandma. "Well done! Although, it doesn't exactly give me the impression of something that could be used to harm people."

"This Necromaster will need further studying before using it," said Grandpa.

"We'd love to hear about what went on," said Mrs. Sorenson. "Why don't you come inside? We'll make some lunch for you all, and you can tell us all about what went on in the Floodmaze."

"What about Mariana?" asked Bright, directing everyone's attention back to the leviathan. "She doesn't exactly want to go back."

"She's huge!" exclaimed Passion.

"Way too big!" said Larissa.

"Nothing personal," added Goldenrod.

"There's a pond at the edge of the yard," said Grandpa. "No magical creatures reside in it, just some koi. She can stay there if she wants to wait for Seth."

"But, we like that pond!" said Larissa.

"She wouldn't be able to swim in it!" said Passion.

"No room for her to swim around in," said Goldenrod.

"A leviathan needs to keep its skin damp," said Dale. "The pool's small and chlorinated, and we can't have her over by the shrine. The naiads would have a fit."

"We'll worry about transporting Mariana to the koi pond," said Clover. "You folks go on inside!"

As all the humans walked back towards the house, Kendra could feel her stomach rumbling. They had been on quite an exhilarating adventure after all. Until now, she had forgotten just how much of an appetite she had worked up.

* * *

Seth, Sarah and Ingrid had been walking through the forest for quite a while now. If Seth's watch was anything to go by, they had been travelling for a good three quarters of an hour already. By now, Seth's feet were starting to ache.

"Look," said Ingrid, pointing forward. "A road!"

Looking forward, Seth could indeed see a road, intersecting with direction they were travelling in, situated roughly one-hundred feet in the distance.

"Yes!" exclaimed Seth, who got so excited that he ran ahead of the girls towards the road.

"Seth, wait up!" gasped Sarah, as she and Ingrid scurried after him. Ignoring Sarah's request, Seth did not slow down until he had reached the should of the highway that stretched from one side of the horizon to the other.

"Good!" said Seth. "This road has to lead somewhere!"

"But where?" asked Ingrid.

"Who cares? It's gotta lead us somewhere! Follow the yellow-lined road!"

"More walking?" asked Sarah.

"If only there were some cars," said Ingrid, "maybe we could hitchhike to the nearest town."

Seth, Sarah and Ingrid proceeded to walk along the shoulder of the highway. They were walking on the left side, which would've been against traffic, not that there was even all that much traffic Only two vehicles passed by them as they walked, neither one stopped when they signalled for attention.

After a good twenty minutes or so, the group came across a gas station located on the side of the road.

"Finally," said Sarah. "Whoever's here can tell us where we are!"

Looking past the pumps, Seth noticed that there was a payphone along the front of the gas station's main building.

"All right!" exclaimed Seth. We can call for help here!"

The three kids made their way past the pumps, none of which were currently being used, until they made it to the front of the building.

"I've got to figure out where we are first," said Seth, as he pulled open the door to the store, allowing Sarah and Ingrid to enter before him.

"Can I help you?" asked the young man who was behind the checkout counter.

"You bet!" said Seth. "Can you tell us where exactly we are?"

The clerk looked out the window. "Um, where's your car?"

"Just answer the question," said Sarah.

"Well, you're on Route 57 between Roehampton and Johnsville. Massachusetts. United States of America. Do you kids need?"

"We're good, thank you," said Seth, breathing a sigh of relief. He then rushed out of the store and to the phone outside

"Massachusetts," said Sarah, "that's not too far from Fablehaven, is it?"

"How'd you manage that?" asked Seth.

"I guess I just got lucky when I tried the wand. I focused on Fablehaven, and I knew it was in Connecticut, but this was the best I could do."

Not even worrying about change, Seth picked up the phone's headset and called collect to dial home.

"Seth!" exclaimed Grandma, who had answered on the other line. "Oh my goodness! Where are you?"

Seth told Grandma about how he got out of the Demon Domain and revealed his current location as best he could, at least according to what the clerk had described to him.

"I've written this all down!" said Grandma. "We're just finishing lunch now, but I'll send Warren down to come and find you! This is great! The others just got back from the Floodmaze! They found the Necromaster!"

"Awesome!" said Seth. "The three of us are very hungry, so is it all right if we get something to eat now?"

"The three of you?"

"Yeah, Sarah and I met this other girl. Ingrid. It's hard to explain, but can we at least try to help her? She knows about the magical world because she was wrongly brought to the Demon Domain."

"I don't know..." said Grandma.

"Please! I'm begging you! We've all had a bad day!"

"All right," said Grandma. "If there _are_ three of you, Geminus will accompany Warren and Raxtus. I'd prefer to not reveal the existence of Translocator to the others."

"Sounds great!" said Seth. "I'll see you soon!"

"I'm relieved to hear that you're okay. Goodbye!"

"What's that all about?" asked Ingrid.

"Oh, this is gonna be awesome!" said Seth. "My cousin and some friends are coming to pick us up! They should be here soon. You two want anything to eat? I'm starving!"

Without waiting for a response, Seth went back inside the store and over to an area that had a microwave. He then opened a small freezer and pulled out three individually-wrapped burritos.

"Seth, I can't afford anything," said Ingrid. "I have like no money."

"Yeah, and my wallet's still at home," added Sarah. "My home."

"I've got you covered," said Seth, as he opened up the three packages one at a time. "Let's get some drinks as well."

Seth placed the three burritos into the microwave and turned it on, then walked over to where several beverage coolers were situated.

"You mean it?" asked Ingrid, as she opened up one of the doors and pulled out a bottle of lemonade. "Thank you."

Seth then realized that the store had a slushy machine and found himself drawn towards it. He grabbed a large, clear plastic up and proceeded to fill it up with blue raspberry slush.

"That's the same thing I wanted!" said Sarah, holding up her own cup.

Seth smiled at Sarah as he removed his filled cup, just as Sarah set hers down to be filled. By the time Seth had placed a cap on his cup and inserted a straw, the microwave had beeped.

Seth removed the warm burritos from the microwave, then brought them up to the front counter. Sarah and Ingrid brought their drinks up as well.

"So that's three burritos, two large slushies and a lemonade," said the clerk. "Is that all together?"

"Yes," said Seth, handing his credit card to the clerk. Although he was told to only use it under special circumstances, Seth had a credit card he could use for expenses, provided that they were related to his duties as a Knight of the Dawn.

"Thank you," said Sarah, grabbing her burrito and drink once the transaction had gone through.

"That was very kind," said Ingrid, as she picked up her stuff.

Seth, Sarah and Ingrid carried their food outside and sat down the curb in front of the store. As Seth and Sarah ate their burritos at a casual pace, he watched as Ingrid devoured hers. Ingrid then went on to drink her lemonade almost immediately.

A few minutes later, Seth and Sarah finished their burritos at roughly the same time. They then proceeded to slurp down the slushies, which gave them little opportunity to talk.

"Hey, Seth," said Warren. His slushy now almost finished, Seth looked up and saw that Warren was now standing next to the group.

"Warren!" exclaimed Seth, as he stood up to receive a hug from his cousin. "Oh, I'm happy to see you now!"

"Hi," said Sarah, smiling at Warren. Seth noticed that Sarah's lips were now stained blue from the slushy, and presumed that his were as well. Seth then stuck out his tongue and could see that it was also blue.

"You must be Ingrid," said Warren, extending his hand. "I'm Warren, Seth's cousin."

"Hi," said Ingrid, who sounded somewhat cautious. She refused Warren's handshake.

"Warren, you got here really fast," said Seth.

"I took a _shortcut_," said Warren, winking at Seth. From the way Warren said it, he had to have been talking about the Translocator.

"How'd you get here?" asked Ingrid. "I didn't see a car pull up or anything."

"I kinda parked in the back. Come on."

Warren led Seth, Sarah and Ingrid around the back of the store. It appeared to be nothing more than a vacant plot of land overrun with long grass and weeds.

"I don't get it," said Ingrid.

"Raxtus?" asked Seth. "Geminus? It's cool. Reveal yourselves!"

Geminus, who had been in the grass all along, only in her fairy form, allowed herself to grow back into a dragon. At the same time, Raxtus went from invisible back to being visible.

"Cool!" said Sarah. "I didn't even get to the meet the dragons before!"

"Where are our manners?" asked Warren. "Sarah, Ingrid. This is Raxtus and Geminus. Raxtus and Geminus, Sarah and Ingrid."

"Dragons?" asked Ingrid. "I just see two large birds. Are they albatrosses?"

"The milk," said Warren. "She hasn't had milk, has she?"

"Milk?" asked Ingrid. "What milk?"

"Oh boy," said Seth. "I think we've got a bit of explaining to do."

"Well, come on," said Warren. "We've got to get going. "Seth, why don't you and Sarah ride on Geminus? I'll go with Ingrid on Raxtus."

"Okay," said Seth, as he climbed up onto Geminus' back, with Sarah sitting down behind him.

"You want me to ride on that huge bird's back?" asked Ingrid.

"It's okay," said Warren. "But he's not a bird. Trust me on this."

Seth watched as Warren helped an uneasy Ingrid climb up onto Raxtus' backside. Warren then climbed up behind Ingrid himself.

"Are we good to go?" asked Warren.

"Yup," replied Raxtus.

"Me too," added Geminus.

"Great!" said Warren. "We're off!"

The two dragons proceeded to flap their wings, and soon took off into the air.

"Awesome!" said Sarah, looking down at the rural road beneath them. "This is incredible."

"We're flying!" gasped Ingrid. "We're really flying!"

Seth smiled. "You haven't seen anything yet. Let's go home to Fablehaven!"


	23. Back at Home

**Chapter 23: Back at Home**

Having been airborne for no more than half an hour, Seth looked around at the surrounding clouds that surrounded the dragons and their riders. Like mountains of cotton floating in the sky, being up amongst the clouds was always truly a remarkable sight that never seemed to get old for him.

Looking over at Ingrid, Seth could see that she had gotten over her initial fear of falling off of Raxtus. Not that she was in any real danger of falling to begin with.

"I think we're pretty much there," said Geminus.

"At Fablehaven?" asked Sarah. "How can you be so sure?"

"It's instinct," replied Raxtus. "Kinda like how birds migrate."

"What's this all about?" asked Ingrid. "I can't understand that squawking."

"We're about to go down," said Warren. "Um, but not too suddenly, Raxtus."

The two dragons then nodded, and proceeded to soar down beneath the clouds. Their speed increasing as they descended further, Seth could see the forest beneath them coming into view. Before long, they had approached the ground, where the house at Fablehaven could be seen in the distance.

Raxtus and Geminus flew up towards the yard and brought themselves to a landing, both bending forward to allow their riders a way to get down easily.

"We're here!" said Seth, climbing down off of Geminus. "Wasn't that fun, girls?"

As Warren climbed down off of Raxtus, he and Seth noticed that Ingrid, who appeared to be terrified, was hyperventilating.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Warren.

"Holy..." gasped Ingrid. "I thought we were going to plunge to our deaths!"

Warren chuckled to himself, as he offered to help Ingrid down off of Raxtus.

"What is this place?" asked Ingrid, looking around at her surroundings.

"Welcome to Fablehaven," said Seth. "This is a preserve where magical creatures seek refuge."

"I still don't believe it."

"I can see we've got quite a bit of explaining to do," said Warren. "Right now, you should probably just meet the family. Come on!"

Seth, Warren, Sarah and Ingrid walked up towards the house, and made their way onto the porch. Warren then unlocked the front door and led the others inside.

"You're back!" said Grandma, as they walked into the foyer.

"In here," said Grandpa, his voice coming from the living room. "There is much we need to discuss!"

The group walked into the living room, where Kendra, Grandma, Grandpa, Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson and Dale were all seated. Seth ran up to his family members and gave each of them a hug.

"Everybody," said Seth. "This is Ingrid. Ingrid, I'd like you to meet my sister Kendra, my parents Marla and Scott, my grandparents Stan and Ruth and my cousin Dale, who's also Warren's brother."

"Welcome, Ingrid," said Grandma, as she sniffed the air. "Um, before we begin, um you kind of... well... smell."

Ingrid huffed. "I'm sorry. It's just that I don't get many opportunities to bathe."

"We're not mad at you. But, would you mind taking a quick shower upstairs?"

"My clothes would still smell."

"I can lend you some of mine," said Kendra, eyeing Ingrid. "You look to be around my size."

"Very well," said Grandma, "Seth and Kendra, show Ingrid to the bathroom. And Kendra, go select some of your clothes for Ingrid to wear."

Kendra and Seth led Ingrid upstairs and over to the bathroom door.

"I'll be right back," said Kendra, as she scurried up to her bedroom, grabbed a change of clothes out of her dresser, then brought them back downstairs.

"I showed her which towels she can use," said Seth.

"Thank you," said Ingrid, accepting the clothing from Kendra, as she slipped through the bathroom door and locked it behind herself.

Kendra waited for Ingrid to hurry up, until she could hear that the shower was running from the other side of the door.

"Seth, who _is_ this girl?" exclaimed Kendra. "First Sarah, now _her_?"

"Look, it's not anybody's fault," said Seth. "She got pulled into the Demon Domain completely by accident."

Kendra rolled her eyes.

"Look, this isn't one of those times where I'm lying just to get my own way! You've got to believe me!"

"Let's go back downstairs so that you can explain this to everyone."

Kendra and Seth walked back down to living room, where the rest of their family was still seated.

"Okay," said Seth, as he plopped himself down on a sofa and raised his hands. "You probably all want to know just who this Ingrid even is."

"Well... yes," said Grandpa. "She's a complete stranger. And unlike Sarah, she doesn't have any association with the Knights of the Dawn."

"Look, she's homeless. The only reason she even wound up in the Demon Domain was because Xillch carried her in by accident when Helwic and the adlets were looking for victims to use for an elixir that they wanted me to drink."

"Elixir?" asked Grandma. "Victims? And they wanted you to drink it?"

"I believe him," said Sarah confidently."

"I don't know what it was all about," said Seth, "but they were putting together some elixir that, had I consumed it, would've turned me evil against my own will. If it weren't for Sarah's help, I might've had to drink that elixir."

"So they wanted you to turn evil," said Warren. "But, why?"

"Because I'm a shadow charmer. I don't understand it myself, but Helwic claimed that if a shadow charmer were to drink this elixir and become evil, Murdred could increase his power through theirs, and he would become strong enough to raid our world."

"And how did you escape from the Demon Domain anyway?" asked Kendra.

"I found a wand," said Sarah. Seth nodded in agreement. "I think it belonged to one of the negafae. I wasn't very good with it, but I was able to use its power to free Seth and Ingrid and get us back to this world."

"This wand," said Grandpa. "Where is it?"

"I'm not sure," said Sarah, feeling around in her pockets. "I think I might've lost it during all the commotion after leaving the Demon Domain. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," said Seth. "You rescued Ingrid and myself, twice!"

"It's probably for the best, anyway," said Grandma. "The wand of some negafae doesn't sound like the sort of thing I'd want any of us to get involved with."

"So, where do we go from here?" asked Seth. "If we go back to the Demon Domain and get captured again, I could be a goner!"

Warren smiled. "Seth, you seem to be forgetting something. We've got the Necromaster."

"That's right!" exclaimed Sarah. "I recall hearing about that!"

"Well, we travelled to Lake Superior," said Kendra, "and with the help of our old friend Mariana, we..."

"Mariana?" gasped Seth, who couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You met up with Mariana? Without me?"

"We didn't really have all that much of a choice," said Warren. "So we travelled to Duskreef Lagoon and met up with Mariana, then altogether we dove down into the Floodmaze."

"Mariana," moaned Seth, "I would've loved to see her again."

The group continued to tell Seth about their adventure in the Floodmaze, the exploits of which only continued to make Seth more and more jealous.

"You guys fought a five-headed eel? No fair!"

"It was_ not_ a five-headed eel," stated Warren, "it was only five one-headed enormous electric eels. That lived in a massive turtle shell."

Seth shook his head in disbelief. "Why'd I have to miss all the fun? Stupid Murdred."

"Well, at least now you guys have the Necromaster," said Sarah.

"If only we understood how it works," noted Warren, holding up the triangular relic. "Mind you, we haven't really had any opportunity to test it out."

"Can I see it?" asked Seth, extending his hand.

"I'd rather you didn't," said Grandpa. "The last thing we need is for a shadow charmer to be handling an item like the Necromaster. No offense to anyone present. But, the darkness within your bodies along with the properties of the Necromaster could be a dangerous mix."

"I understand," said Sarah.

"The only problem we've run into so far," said Warren, "is that the Necromaster doesn't seem to be emitting any sort of dark vibrations."

"Well, maybe I _should_ touch it, then," said Seth. "If this thing is a tool of the Demon Domain, then perhaps a touch of darkness would reignite its spark, similar to how Kendra's touch can restore de-powered artifacts."

"Okay," said Warren, setting the relic down on the coffee table. "Just touch it quickly and get it over with."

Seth reached forward and placed his fingertips onto the relic, covering both the golden frame and sapphire embedded within it. A moment later he removed his hand, but could not sense that anything had happened.

"I don't think that did anything," said Seth.

"Don't worry about it," said Warren, picking up the Necromaster. "I'll look into this whole thing a bit later. Let's just take it easy right now."

At this point, the sound of Ingrid's footsteps coming down the stairs drew everyone's attention over to her presence as she entered the living room. She was now wearing a fresh set of Kendra's clothes, including a jersey and jeans. Her hair, although still in need of a good trim, was still wet, but not greasy. At the very least, Ingrid no longer appeared to be grungy, and her odor appeared to be gone.

"You look nice," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"Um, thank you," replied Ingrid. "This is all very kind of you. But what were you saying about magical creatures?"

Grandpa closed his eyes. "All right, then. Ingrid, I will be right back. I need to get something for you."

Everyone waited as Grandpa got up from his seat and walked out of the living room. He could then be heard walking into the kitchen, as well as opening the door to the fridge and a cupboard. Grandpa then returned to the living room a moment later, holding a glass of milk.

"Ingrid, you need to drink this."

"Why?" she asked.

"Just do it," said Seth. "You need to drink it to..."

"Let Ingrid find out for herself," said Grandpa. "Ingrid, will you please drink this milk?"

"Okay," she said, accepting the glass from Grandpa. Looking suspicious, Ingrid glanced down into her glass at the milk, then proceeded to drink it down.

"Wow," she said, after taking a long sip. "That was delicious!" She then went on to swallow the rest of the milk in her glass. "I've never had milk that tasted like this before."

"Before we go on," said Grandpa, "I'd like it for you to tell us about yourself, if you don't mind."

"You don't want to know about me," said Ingrid hesitantly. "My life is awful. My parents are dead and I live on the street. You guys have a large, loving family and this gorgeous home. Way to rub it in."

"Look, Ingrid," said Seth. "We're just trying to be hospitable. Isn't there anything in your life you appreciate or look forward to?"

"Why do you care?" blurted Ingrid. "So you can one-up me on whatever it is I tell you? There is nothing that matters to me. Literally, nothing. Oh sure, I have a birthday coming up, but so what, everyone has a birthday! And I have no one to celebrate it with, because my parents are dead!"

"Well, we could always..."

"I don't want a stupid party. You want to help so badly, buy me my parents back and a new home."

"Let's change the subject," said Grandpa. Come outside, Ingrid. There's something that you need to see."

"I don't care."

"Please," said Grandma. "This is something that you won't regret."

Grandpa then gestured for everyone to follow his lead. He proceeded back into the kitchen went out the back door.

"This _is_ a large place," said Ingrid, looking around as they stepped out onto the back patio. "Are we going on a stupid tour or something?"

"Hey everybody," said Passion, as she, Larissa and Goldenrod flew up towards the group.

"Who is this person?" asked Goldenrod, as she and the other fairies fluttered around Ingrid.

"Whoa!" gasped Ingrid, studying the trio. "Are those... are those fairies?"

As soon as Ingrid spoke, Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod all came to a halt in unison.

"This can't be real," said Ingrid, slowly extending her hand towards Goldenrod, who quickly reared away from it.

"She can see us?" exclaimed Larissa.

"Ingrid," said Dale, "these fairies are Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod."

"So, you can bring in more humans, but not more fairies?" asked Passion.

"We'll talk about this later, girls," said Grandpa. "Right now I want Seth to see something."

Grandpa led the group across the yard and over towards a large pond situated on the perimeter.

"I don't get it," said Grandpa. "I'm sure she was right here."

"Who's here?" asked Seth, looking down into the pond.

Without any warning, a small figure, no larger than one of the fairy dragons, leapt out of the water. After falling back in and surfacing, everyone could see who it was; Mariana, only she was presently a whole lot small than her normal size.

"Mariana?" gasped Seth. "Is that you?"

Mariana nodded, then went over to the edge of the water and poked herself out, allowing Seth to give you a hug.

"I missed you!" said Seth, giving a firm hug to the diminutive leviathan. "But, how'd you get to be so small."

"It was our idea," said Bright, approaching the group with Clover at her side.

"Are they..." began Ingrid, "fairies too? They're _huge_!"

"Fairy angels, technically," said Clover. "You must be Ingrid. I'm Clover, and this is Bright."

"Fairy angels?"

"Can someone explain why Mariana's so _small_ all of a sudden?" asked Seth.

"Well, we brought her back here after going through the Floodmaze, because she really wanted to see you, once you made it back," said Clover.

"But we didn't have anywhere adequate enough for a an aquatic creature of Mariana's size to properly reside here," said Bright. "This pond was simply too small for her."

"So we asked Tiara if we could borrow the Sizeshifter and shrink her down. Just while she's visiting, of course."

"Hold on," said Ingrid. "You guys just _shrank_ that blue snake thing?"

"She's _not_ a blue snake thing," said Seth. "Okay, she's blue. And serpent-like, I suppose. But not a blue snake thing!"

"But, you're saying that this thing creature used to be a lot larger, and you actually shrank it?"

"I don't think she _gets_ the whole magic thing," said Clover. "Ingrid, over here!"

Everybody glanced over at Clover, who vanished in a cloud of green sparkles.

"Now I'm over here," said Clover, causing everybody to turn around and face the new spot where she was standing.

"How'd you do that?" asked Ingrid. "That's impossible,"

Clover then snapped her fingers and transformed herself into a swan in front of everybody. Ingrid appeared to be in awe.

"It's magic," said Bright. "You know, I can turn _you_ into a swan if you're still not convinced."

"Enough showing off," said Grandpa, prompting Clover to revert back into her fairy form.

"That's... incredible," said Ingrid.

"Agreed," added Sarah. "I've never seen anything like _that_, even at Mythic Grove."

"You haven't seen _anything_ yet," said Seth.

"We're not going to get carried away," said Grandma. "With all due respect, Ingrid, the main reason we're telling you all this is so that you don't lose your mind what with all you've been through."

"I get it," said Ingrid. "Thank you."

Just then, one of the reindeer walked up towards the group.

"Hey, that's not a magical creature," said Ingrid.

"Well," said Dale, "there _are_ normal animals here as well. Like caribou."

"Hey, Dancer," said Seth, as the reindeer shook its head. "I mean Prancer!" The reindeer then nodded.

"It can't be," said Ingrid, as her eyes lit up. "Is that _really_ one of Santa Claus' reindeer?"

"Seth," grumbled Grandpa, glaring at Seth. Seth and Kendra had been told to keep the whole reindeer situation a secret from everybody outside of Fablehaven.

"I don't believe it," said Ingrid. "It _is _one of Santa's reindeer! Normal reindeer would never understand English! So Santa _is_ real!"

"Yes, he's real," said Grandpa grudgingly. "Let's leave it at that."

"You don't understand," said Ingrid, as her eyes started to water up. "It all makes sense."

"What do you mean?" asked Kendra.

It was the first Christmas after I had lost my parents. Being homeless, I was living on the street, and it was very cold out that year. I was miserable. Thought I would freeze to death one night. But on Christmas Day, I woke up encased in the most comfortable sleeping bag, along with a brand new pillow. Ones that I hadn't gone to sleep with. Attached to the pillow was a note that said _For Ingrid, Love Santa Claus_."

"You're kidding," said Grandma.

"I always thought it was just an act of kindness by someone who found out my name. I didn't expect that it was actually from Santa Claus.

"That actually makes sense," said Kendra. "When Santa Claus asked to have his reindeer stay here, he stated that he only gives presents to a handful of desperate people, since he can't possibly do everyone. I guess that year he felt you were deserving and gave you a gift."

"But why?" asked Ingrid. "More than one Christmas has passed since then, but I never got another present."

"There are a lot of desperate people out there," said Grandpa. "Santa is only one person, he can't help everybody."

"But... I'm Jewish. Why would he help me?"

"Santa may be a Christian figure," said Mrs. Sorenson, "but he doesn't discriminate against other faiths. He just wants people to be happy."

"He _did_ make me happy," said Ingrid, wiping away her tears.

"I can see we still have some explaining to do," said Mrs. Sorenson.

"Well, it's starting to get late," said Grandma, looking at her watch. "I'm going to head inside and get started on dinner. You girls are both welcome to stay the night, but we really need to figure out what to do with both of you. Especially you, Ingrid."

"Understood," said Ingrid, as she lowered her head.


	24. Deceit

**Chapter 24: Deceit**

For the remainder of the afternoon, Sarah and Ingrid were shown around the yard area of Fablehaven by the Sorensons. As most of the creatures on the preserve were not granted access into the yard, the only other creatures they got to meet were Mendigo, Hugo and Viola, each one more impressive than the last, particularly to Ingrid.

Sarah remarked on how she wanted to go swimming at some point once she saw the pool, but was discouraged when it was explained to her that the family never got the pool ready until late April.

Eventually, it was time for dinner, and everybody was soon seated around the table, just as Mr. Sorenson carried in a platter of roast beef, which he placed down on the center of the table, where bowls containing mashed potatoes, peas and stewed carrots could also be found.

"Before we begin," said Mr. Sorenson, as he sat down in his seat, "I'd like to take a moment to give thanks. I am thankful to not only have my son Seth back, but that both Sarah and Ingrid are safe from the Demon Domain as well."

"Amen," said the others.

"But, we still have _my_ problem," said Seth. "The one that started this whole mess. My debt to the Singing Sisters. I _still _haven't succeeded in stopping Murdred. I don't know how long I have, but I'm afraid that if I keep procrastinating, I'm going to get what's coming to me."

"You're forgetting," said Grandpa, "that Kendra and the others all managed to recover the Necromaster from the Floodmaze in your absence. Now that we finally have it, if it works the way we think, the Necromaster should be able to defeat any danger that comes your way. At last you'll be able to storm the Demon Domain and destroy Murdred."

"That's if we can even figure out how the thing actually works," said Warren. "None of us were getting any dark vibes from this relic, so even though we have it, we _still_ need to figure it out."

"You've looked at it since getting back, haven't you?" asked Kendra.

"A bit. But I couldn't make heads or tails of the relic. Either I'm doing something wrong, or this thing doesn't have any special properties at all."

"This is _so_ not fair," muttered Seth, slapping his hand down on the table. "You guys go through all this trouble just to get this coveted Necromaster, and the stupid thing doesn't even work?!"

"I'm doing what I can," said Warren. "But this whole thing is beyond me, or anyone else at Fablehaven. If only Coulter were still around. He might know more about this sort of thing."

"And I'd rather that fairies like myself didn't look into something like the Necromaster," said Clover. "I don't even like the idea of you bringing it back to the cabin."

"It's just so that I can study it further tonight" said Warren. "I really would like to try and solve this riddle before admitting defeat. Just let me study it for one night. If I don't get anywhere by bedtime, we'll contact Trask in the morning and see if somebody like Agad can take a crack at the Necromaster."

"I understand", said Clover, kissing Warren on his cheek. "But please, be careful with that thing."

"With the way things have been going, the most damage one can do with the Necromaster seems to be just lobbing the silly thing at your target."

Dale smirked. "Maybe you _do_ need to throw it at your opponent to be effective. Like a shuriken."

"I don't think it'd kill the target instantaneously," said Warren, "but a thing like that would leave a nasty bruise."

Everybody then helped themselves to the dinner that was arranged on the table. Seth noticed that Ingrid helped herself to large helpings of every item. Just like the burrito she scarfed down at lunch, Seth could tell that Ingrid was actually very hungry. From the look of her wrists, she appeared to be rather skinny and somewhat malnourished.

The dinner was quite scrumptious. After everybody had finished, Grandma brought out a cherry pie and cut it into enough pieces for everyone at the table, which she then covered with whipped cream. Although the pieces was not large, Seth noticed that Ingrid was the first to finish hers.

"This was a lovely meal," said Ingrid. "Thank you very much."

"Yes, thank you," added Sarah. "But, where do we go from here?"

"Err, what do you mean?" asked Grandpa.

"What's going to happen with Ingrid and myself?" And Seth."

"Well... we need to figure out how to operate the Necromaster first, before anyone heads back to the Demon Domain," replied Grandpa. "Should a solution not arise, we'd just have to think up another plan before recklessly sending people back in. As for you, Sarah, you're welcome to stay here until further notice."

"What about me?" asked Ingrid.

"I'm not really sure. "I'm not against letting you stay here for the time being. However, since you lack a legal guardian, and because we don't have any legal control over you, it may be best if you go back to your old life. If you stayed here without anyone's consent, we could get in trouble with the law, possibly for child abduction or something."

"I... I get it," said Ingrid. "It's just, I don't have anywhere to go."

"I'm sorry," said Grandpa, "Even if nobody ever found out, it's not something I want to get involved with. I've got enough trouble managing a preserve for magical creatures in secrecy from the government. The last thing I need is to be arrested for harboring a street child. It may be best if we have her go back to where she came."

"But, are you sure?" asked Seth.

"It's for the best, Seth."

After dinner, Warren went back to his cabin, bringing the Necromaster with him. Kendra, Seth and Sarah all spoke to each other in the parlor, discussing their lives. Ingrid, however, remained in a chair in the corner of the room, opting to keep herself out of their conversation.

Before anybody knew what had happened, it was nearly eleven o'clock by the time Grandma came downstairs and encouraged the kids to go to bed.

Once everybody had washed up, Kendra presented Ingrid with a pair of pajamas. Ingrid was to sleep in the guest bedroom with Sara, as there were twin beds in there.

Both of them tuckered out from their long day, Kendra and Seth both headed to their respective bedrooms and soon fell asleep.

The following morning, Kendra and Seth both woke up at around seven and made their way back downstairs, where most of their family, along with Sarah and Ingrid, were eating breakfast at the dining room table.

"Good morning, Sarah," said Seth. "Morning, Ingrid."

"Hey!" said Ingrid with a smile.

"Hi," said Ingrid, who sounded rather drab.

"We've got a big day ahead of us," said Grandpa. "First, we've got to make some effort to help Ingrid get back to where she belongs. On top of that, we need to find out about the Necromaster. If Warren figured it out, you can head back into the Demon Domain with it. When Warren gets here, he can tell us what he found."

A minute or so later, Warren came rushing into the dining room. He was unshaven, sporting bedhead and a worried look on his face.

"Warren," said Mrs. Sorenson, "what's the matter?"

"The Necromaster! I can't find it anywhere!"

"Gone?" gasped Seth. "You're kidding, right?"

"This is_n't_ a joke," said Warren sternly. "After dinner, I didn't make any progress in figuring out the Necromaster at all. But, before I went to bed, I placed the relic into my nightstand. I'm positive. Now I've spent the last half hour tearing my cabin apart, looking for this thing, and I can't find it at all."

"Are you saying someone just took it?" gasped Kendra.

"Looks that way," said Warren, turning to face both Sarah and Ingrid. "And it wouldn't surprise me if the culprit was among us."

"Warren, don't jump to conclusions," said Grandma.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" asked Clover.

"I doubt it," said Grandpa. "Bracken said that the relic did not emit any dark vibrations, so fat chance you'd be able to detect it somehow."

"Maybe we should frisk our two guests," said Dale. "Search the whole house if we have to."

"Warren, are you sure it's _not _at the cabin?" asked Clover.

"You don't believe me, go look for yourself."

"Why don't you eat something first," said Mrs. Sorenson. "If the Necromaster really has gone missing, fretting about and rushing won't help."

After hearing the news, everybody at the table scarfed down their breakfast, just as quickly as Ingrid normally did. Once they had finished, everyone made their way out the front door and proceeded to march towards Warren's cabin.

"There she is!" said Passion, as the three fairies flew over towards the group, along with two of the reindeer.

"It was _you_, wasn't it?" asked Goldenrod, as she flew up towards Ingrid.

"Me?" asked Ingrid, looking confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You're the one who slipped out of the house last night and went over to Warren's!"

"What?" asked Grandpa, frowning at Ingrid.

"I didn't leave the house last night!" exclaimed Ingrid. "Honest!"

The two reindeer shook their heads.

"That's not what we were told," said Larissa. "Donner and Blitzen saw her running over towards Warren's cabin in the middle of the night. And on her way back, they claim she was holding some golden, triangular object."

The two reindeer nodded in unison.

"No!" yelled Ingrid. "That's a lie! Why would you reindeer even think of such a thing?"

The reindeer wouldn't lie like this," said Grandpa. "Ingrid, what was your part in all of this?"

"I didn't do anything! I stayed in my room the entire night with Sarah! Right, Sarah?"

"I want to believe you," said Sarah. "But I can't vouch for anything that might have happened after I fell asleep."

"Are you two telling the honest truth?" asked Grandpa. "I need to be sure."

Donner and Blitzen both nodded in response.

"Why are you doing this?" asked Ingrid. "You're Santa's reindeer! Why would the reindeer belonging to such a kind man turn against me?"

"Are you reindeer positive it was Ingrid?" asked Grandma, pointing to Ingrid. "This girl, right here?"

Once again, the reindeer nodded.

"I don't know what this is all about," said Grandpa. "But Ingrid, you claim that you did _not_ sneak over to Warren's cabin and take the Necromaster?"

"Honest!" cried Ingrid, tears forming in her eyes. "I have no idea what could've happened to the Necromaster."

Grandpa took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Ingrid. But we have witnesses who have no agenda against you. I'm afraid that we'll need to send you down to our dungeon.

"Dungeon?" gasped Ingrid.

"You have a _dungeon_ here?" asked Sarah.

"Yes," said Grandpa. "It's where we lock up the worst of the worst, as well as various traitors. Warren, Clover, please escort Ingrid to the dungeon. Voorsh and Slaggo will see to it that she is locked up."

"No!" said Ingrid. "You can't do this to me!"

"I'm sorry, but you've got to go! Warren, please make sure that she is locked away."

"Got it," said Warren, turning to face Ingrid.

"I'm not going," blurted Ingrid, as Warren grabbed her by her wrist.

"Let go of me!" said Ingrid, attempting to punch Warren with her other hand, only for him to swiftly block it.

"Don't be difficult," said Warren, fighting to keep Ingrid, who was trying to squirm her way out of his grasp, under control.

"Enough!" said Clover, as she held out her hands and used her magic to shrink Ingrid down to only a few inches in height, her whole body now entirely in Warren's grip.

"Help!" squealed Ingrid in a tiny voice. "What are you doing? I'm innocent!"

Warren and Clover headed back towards the house, bringing Ingrid with them.

"I thought she was my friend," said Seth.

"Me too," added Sarah, letting out a sigh.

"Donner and Blitzen," said Grandpa, "thank you for spotting Ingrid when you did. "Passion, Larissa and Goldenrod, thank you all as well. I'd like for you to go find Bright and have her report to the house. If Ingrid won't reason with us, we'll need to search for the Necromaster ourselves, wherever it is."

The fairies and reindeer then took off in different directions, as the humans all headed back towards the house.

"I can't believe Ingrid would do a thing like this," said Seth, once he had entered the house and stepped into the foyer.

"I'm sorry, Seth," said Grandma. "But there's just too much evidence against her. She's a street girl with a sketchy background, and you hardly knew her."

"She probably just stole the Necromaster, hoping she could wait out the investigation," said Dale. "Then when she got the chance, she'd would run off and sell it on the black market or something."

"Why?"

"We don't know enough about Ingrid's past or upbringing to understand," said Mr. Sorenson. "She might just be a difficult case. Some people are just like that, unfortunately."

"It's such a shame, too," said Grandma. "I left Ingrid's old clothes out and the brownies made nicer ones out of them. I was going to give them to her after breakfast as well."

Warren and Clover then walked into the hallway, having come upstairs from the dungeon in the basement.

"Well, Ingrid's been locked away," said Warren. "I don't know what it is, but for some reason, I got the impression that maybe she didn't actually steal the Necromaster."

Seth nodded. "If only there hadn't been any witnesses."

"At any rate," said Grandma, "we might as well start searching for the Necromaster, wherever Ingrid may have stashed it."

"Part of me just wants to force the answer out of her," said Grandpa. "But that would be wrong. Anyway, let's just split up and start searching around for the Necromaster. If the reindeer did see her return to the house with the relic, there's a good chance it's inside here somewhere."

Grandpa, Dale, Sarah and Mr. and Mrs. Sorenson all headed upstairs.

"You know," said Kendra, "I was going to suggest using the Occulus to find the Necromaster, but then I remembered that we weren't able to locate it back when it was still in the Floodmaze."

"A good suggestion," said Grandma. "But, I get the feeling that the Occulus simply lack the power to pinpoint the Necromaster, wherever it may be."

"We'll find it," said Clover. "If you could find the Necromaster in the Floodmaze, you should very well be able to find it in your own home."

"You guys mind if I go back to my place first?" asked Warren, rubbing his stubble. "I still haven't showered or shaved."

"Of course," said Grandma. "We'll start looking around the house while you're doing that."

For the next half an hour or so, everybody that was inside the house spent their time looking all over the place for wherever it was that the Necromaster might actually be. In the interim, Bright had arrived to come and help search. Warren also came back, now fully freshened up.

"It's gotta be somewhere," said Seth, lifting up a corner of the rug on the floor in the downstairs hallway. Kendra and Sarah were standing nearby, neither of them sure where to search next.

"What made you think it was _there_?" asked Kendra. "There wasn't a lump underneath the rug."

"_You_ haven't had any better luck finding it yourself. So don't bicker at me."

Just then, Seth could hear the telephone ringing from inside Grandpa's office.

"I'll get it," said Grandpa, dashing through the hallway from the living room and into his office.

Curious, Seth, Kendra and Sarah all followed Grandpa into his office, since he had no closed the door after himself. Grandpa, who didn't seem to mind that the three kids were blatantly eavesdropping on him, picked up the headset to the phone on his desk.

"Hello?" asked Grandpa, speaking into the phone. "Oh, Mr. Kelly! Yes, this is Stan. We're fine! I was just going to call you, but we've been really distracted around here lately. Sarah? Sarah's great! She's loving it here! Are you folks doing okay?"

There was a brief pause as Grandpa listened to Sarah's father speaking on the other line.

"Listen, we've devised a plan to try and defeat Murdred, but we've hit a little bump in the road, so to speak. But once that's over with, and Murdred's been stopped, it should be safe for Sarah to return home."

Another pause followed.

"Really? Today? But don't you think? Well, I just don't feel that's it's safe. But she could get hurt!" Grandpa then sighed. "All right, I'll let her know. We'll take care of things on this end. See you soon."

Grandpa then hung up the phone and turned to face the kids.

"What was that all about?" asked Sarah.

"That was your father," said Grandpa. "He wants you to return home as soon as possible."

"Now?" asked Sarah, sounding confused.

"Sarah needs to leave?" asked Seth. "But why? Just the other day you convinced her parents to let her stay."

"They've changed their minds about all of this," said Grandpa. "I don't agree with them on this whole front, since if Sarah leaves Fablehaven unsupervised, she'll be at risk to be captured again. Had the Necromaster not been stolen, I'd be more inclined to side with Sarah's parents."

"So what do we do?" asked Sarah.

"You'll need to go home," said Grandpa. "Your parents want you back, so that you can live your life normally and go back to school."

"Aww, man," groaned Seth. "And I was looking forward to hanging out with you, Sarah."

Sarah winced. "We can still be friends, Seth. We'll keep in touch online!"

"Well, we'd better get ready," said Grandpa. "We need to get you to the airport so that you can catch a flight back home."


End file.
